


Why are things like this?

by Shama_Nina



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Captivity, Child Abuse, Drug Use, Force suppression, Hospitals, Hurt Kylo Ren, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, M/M, Prostitution, Protective Armitage Hux, Recovery, Rescue, Sexual Abuse, Slavery, Starvation, The Force, Torture, look at the warnings!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:28:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21660832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shama_Nina/pseuds/Shama_Nina
Summary: In a Universe were the users of the force have been killed in fear of their powers several hundred years ago there are only about seventy of them left. Like a rare breed of animal they are held as slaves in the hands of the rich and evil.When Armitage Hux is still a child he meets a young slave named Kylo, the precious slave of Snoke, Lord to the biggest empire in all the galaxies. He does not realize until much later what Kylo actually is, but he does realize that the system they live in is wrong.His goal to gain power will lead him to a future of change, and hopefully also to Kylo again.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 78





	1. The first meeting

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes ;) Comments and Kudos are nice, and obviously neither Star Wars nor the characters are mine.

All through the galaxies the force was a well known legend. Once upon a time there were a lot of people in touch with the force. Those people had unimaginable powers. They were said to be faster, stronger and more resilient than all the other species out there. Well, they weren’t really a species, as a force user could be of every race, but still, they were different. Myths even told of beings that grew over a thousand years old because of their force abilities.

These beings had lived their life in two different ways. The way of the Jedi and the way of the Sith.  
The Jedi were looking for a life in touch with the force and peace. Their goals were knowledge and longevity in harmony with all other races.  
The Sith however were seeking power from within the force. Their goal was a constant seek for honour, a strong will and strength. Dying in battle seemed to be acceptable to reach said goals.  
These characteristics why they were respectively called to be the light and the dark side of the force.

The Jedi often worked as healers or making a living out of helping people otherwise. Sith were mostly mercenaries, always part of an ongoing war.  
Until there was the first great war.

Nowadays historians are sceptical if the event deserves the name of a war. What had happened all throughout the galaxies several hundred years back was more of a purge.

Governments of different systems became concerned about the force. Some of them had seen in battle how enormous their abilities were, how many warriors just one with a connection could kill, some Sith were said to have stopped whole battalions alone.  
They were scared of those great powers. What if the force users decided to turn against them? Nobody would be able to stop them on their own, so the seven biggest star systems made a pact.  
They will annihilate the force together.

Over the duration of seven years they readied themselves for the war. They trained soldiers, built weapons, aircrafts and navigation systems, all specialised on finding and killing the two tribes of the force.

The great war started on the peaceful planet of Merdera. It was a small planet, that had pretty harsh conditions. Nobody lived there before the Jedi started to build a settlement. The winters were long and cold with heaps of white snow. The terrain was rocky, full of high mountains and strong creaks that never fully froze. Not many animals lived there, so the Jedi decided on a simple vegetarian diet for the sake of harmony with the few living things there.  
Children were born on Merdera. Children that had never seen a weapon outside a lightsabre, children that had never seen war even if the rest of the universe was never coming to a stillstand with their constant fighting, this planet was like a sperate, independent universe.

A fleet was sent out to this planet and they killed every single person living there, force sensitive or not. It was symbolic to use such a place for the beginning of the purge, there would be no mercy.

The Jedi, peaceful as they tried to be couldn’t live like this, they couldn’t fight. They tried to flee, but every corner of the universe they tried to escape to, their enemies were already waiting for them. People they once saw as friends ratted them out and even when fighting, there was never a chance to begin with.

For the Sith the war wasn’t really going any better. Though strong and experienced in battle they were just too weak in numbers. Unlike the Jedi most Sith lived a nomadic life, traveling from one fight to the next, most of them alone. They were easy targets like this, one often killing hundreds of soldiers, but in the end the force and their lives would snuff out like a flame in space, without any oxygen left.

The Jedi were the first to go extinct. There were very detailed records about the last ones and how celebrated the generals were after their killings. Like a hunter with a very rare prey.

After that, the Sith were at the end of their might soon enough.  
But other than the Jedi, not every single one of them was killed. They were accounts of the once powerful beings enchained and treated like wild animals held as a pet. Collars, invented in preparation to the great war around their necks suppressing the force.  
Every last user of the force was either dead or kept alive as a slave.  
A tradition that was held up till this day.

Most of them withered and died in captivity, without any real connection to the force slowly loosing their mind. And they didn’t bear a lot of children, so their number decreased even further. Some were still born without the need of having a force connection in the family, but these numbers were so small it practically didn’t exist anymore.

Today mathematicians guessed that there were only about seventy force sensitive individuals left in all of the galaxies. With these numbers out there as common knowledge, I never thought I would actually meet one of those beings.

Well, when I first met him, I didn’t realize. Even over the course of the next ten years I didn’t even begin to understand.

I was born as the son of a respected general of the empire, named Brendol Hux. That didn’t mean I was a very respected individual though. I am his illegitimate child after all, conceived with a redheaded kitchen slave. With my own fiery red hair, it was undeniable that I was her son, so she disappeared as soon as I was old enough to be left alone. Probably killed and disposed like trash.  
As General Brendol Hux wasn’t able to father a male child other than me I was named the heir in spite of these circumstances.

He wasn’t a very good father as you could probably guess with the fact in mind that he killed my mother, whose only crime had been giving birth to me after her master had sex with her, presumably even against her will. Most of the time I was invisible to the man and it was better that way. When he actually looked at me a smack in the face usually wasn’t far of.

At least I was getting good food, had my own room and an excellent education, where I also had first learned of the great war and all the other skirmishes that followed until our empire was formed.  
I had it so much better than the slaves in the house. As a child of a slave this life would have been my path too if the old man hadn’t chosen to keep me. And there were a lot of slaves at the house, as Hux was a very rich man in high stand. There were slaves cleaning, cooking and working around the house every day. They got fed scraps, got hit and screamed at a lot.  
Sometimes I would get a glimpse at a young woman, sometimes a man who also wore the typical collar, but didn’t work. They were always very beautiful, and mostly I didn’t see them again.

So I was really confused when I saw a great commotion in our entrance hall about one single slave when I had just turned eleven years old. There were slaves everywhere, it was common that you got slaves when you were of a certain standing in society, what was so special about this one?

Everybody was whispering rumours in the ear of the one closest, like it was some kind of big secret and it pissed me of. I went to have a look at that slave myself.  
When I finally got a clear view of our door my confusion didn’t lighten up one bit. There was my father, his hand on the shoulder of a boy seemingly about my age. He wore dark clothes, hiding all of his creamy white skin except for his hands, his face and a deep neckline, that left a clear view of the golden collar circling just under his barely showing Adams apple.  
His hair was pitch black, thick and wavy in the way it was curling around his face. His eyes were dark as well. Even with his long and warm looking clothes on he looked way to thin.

So what was special about him? He was way too young to be a really good worker and looked too weak as well... He was kind of pretty, but was also way younger than the other really good-looking slaves I had seen around here before and wearing to much clothes as well, I guess. He just didn’t fit in and I didn’t get it.

I was surprised when my father waved me over and introduced me as his son. Why would he do something so formal for a simple slave? That was when he explained this was indeed not a common slave at all.  
“Armitage, this is Kylo, he will be staying with us for the next three months. He is the personal slave of Lord Snoke, who is currently on a journey. Usually he would take Kylo with him, but this time he can’t and he doesn’t want to leave him alone, so for the duration of the Lord’s absence he’ll be staying with us, where he is to be taken care of and protected. Be nice and show him around, he will have the guest room across form yours, understood?”

I knew exactly that it wasn’t a question, but an order, so I nodded and led the way for him. The slave followed me silently and all the people spying on our introduction in the halls, spreading rumours and whispering secrets parted for us like they would for Lord Snoke himself. It was rather amusing, but still, he was just a slave, a young boy, what was so special about him, that he was prized even by the ruler of an empire, so big it dominated the rest of the entire universe?

I just thought Kylo was a little weird. When we got to the corridor, that was mainly filled with empty rooms, labelled as guest rooms and my own room it finally got quiet around us. We were all alone, but the slave didn’t say a word. Usually that was fine by me, slaves weren’t supposed to be mouthy, especially when around their master, but I wasn’t his master. Lord Snoke was, the Hux family may be privileged, but in the end not that important if you know what I mean. Kylo was probably treated like royalty, the Kings favourite dog you could say.  
And still, he acted demure, more than any common house slave I had ever met.

I opened the door for him and led him inside the guestroom just across my room. It was a rather bare room, but spacious and functional. I had no idea what his room in Lord Snoke’s mansion looked like, but this wasn’t great in comparison I guess. Still, the boy didn’t breathe a word, for a second I wondered if he was even able to talk, but why would the Lord want a defective slave? So I decided to try to get him to talk.

“So, your name’s Kylo? That your real name?” I knew that a master was allowed to call his slaves whatever he wanted to, but still, Kylo sounded a little odd to be a real name, but who was I to say something like that, there were still a lot of cultures out there, that I knew absolutely nothing about. Maybe on a far away planet Kylo was an every day name? It didn’t seem very likely, the Lord would not desire anything that was common.

At first the boy just shrugged and then decided on a tentative little nod instead. “I think so. I don’t remember any other name.” He said after a while. His voice was quiet and kind of hoarse. He didn’t use it often it seemed. His eyes wouldn’t meet mine when he said it.

“Sure” I answered him, not knowing if the sound in my own voice was simply sarcastic or actively trying to spite the other. He didn’t react at all and it was starting to go on my nerves.

“So, the bathroom’s at the end of the hall, we’ll have to share, but it’s just the two of us on this floor. There’s a refresher but also a classic bathtub if that’s your thing, towels and everything’s free to use. Dinner is at seven o’clock, I’ll come and get you so you won’t get lost. There anything more you need to know?” This time I knew exactly that my voice was sounding bored if not annoyed, but I didn’t really care, it wasn’t like the Lord’s slave was very talkative and would tell on me.

Instead of a question about the house or things to entertain himself with Kylo asked me a surprising question a salve had never posed before. “What am I supposed to call you?”  
A little startled I told him that just Hux was fine. I was still a child, a bastard child after all, no need for honorifics there.

After that probably failed conversation, we said our goodbyes and I went back to my own room, hiding my nose in a book again. My favourites were about history, mostly war. Not because they were so much fun to read, but because I always knew knowledge to be power and if I wanted one thing, it was power.

That took my mind off of things for a while until I had to get Kylo for dinner. I knocked at his door tentatively and was practically instantly greeted with a soft bow from the slender face surrounded by thick, black hair. He was still wearing the same, long and dark clothes, I wondered what he did with his free time.

I shrugged the thoughts off and led the way to the dining hall. A long table with several seats was the centrepiece. Currently there were different large plates displayed, filled with delicious meals, freshly cooked. My father Brendol and his wife were already sitting down, as were their three daughters. One was a little older than me, still from the first wife, the other two were seven and five, sitting closely to their mother. My guess was that Kylo will sit next to my father and I would take the last empty seat next to him in turn.

Kylo apparently had the same thought process and sat after a low bow to the general, that was currently hosting him and a smaller one for his family. There was some lame ass small talk, but nothing of importance going on. I said something when I had to, same for our guest it seemed. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, the food was great after all, but it wasn’t really comfortable either. I had a weird feeling.

The slave’s plate had already been made up, different from us he wasn’t allowed to choose. In comparison his serving looked rather small and plain I thought to myself. There was white rice and vegetables mostly, no meat at all.  
I couldn’t understand why the already thin and still growing teenager had such a strict diet, but I wasn’t in any position to ask about such a thing, so I tried to forget it.

I couldn’t. That night I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, my mind circling around the weird being named Kylo. I still had so many questions about him, hopefully the next months would give me some answers, or I thought I would never be able to sleep again.


	2. A bad feeling

Over the next few days I didn’t exactly see a lot of Kylo. I was going after my routine the usual way. There was breakfast, our slave guest wasn’t there, I had my classes with my tutors as I was home-schooled for most things, then there was lunch, where Kylo was not present as well and in the afternoon, I was visiting the military academy, mainly for my physical training. The only time that I would see the dark-haired boy regularly was at dinner. He ate practically the same meal every day, but didn’t say anything about it. Well, he didn’t really say anything at all, except for when my father would ask him a question about his life with Lord Snoke. Mainly about his great conquests in war, Brendol sounded to me like he was trying to suck up to Kylo, how despicable.

After that I went to have a long, hot shower and to my room to read in peace. That was really to only time anymore my brain didn’t spend with frantically thinking about the weird slave now living with us. I felt like I was pretty much insomniac at that point with the few hours of sleep I was getting.

What was Kylo doing over the day? Why did I never see him? What made the boy so goddamn special?!  
I was getting enormously frustrated at that point, and I never even got a chance to talk to him again to ease my questions!

Until a fateful Sunday two weeks after our first little conversation. Sunday was the only day of the week I wasn’t studying. Well, officially. At least there were no tutors that day and neither did I go to the academy. I was still expected to study on my own though. And I did, but it was a really nice day, the weather was great outside, not to hot yet as it was just at the beginning of spring, but the sky was blue and the winds calm, so on that Sunday I decided to go and take my books outside for a little while. Maybe it would even do my pale complexion some good.

Our mansion had a pretty great backyard. As we lived on a rather hot and dry planet you didn’t see a lot of gardens around, but the Hux family had a lot of money and slaves for the job of maintaining one, so our yard was filled with lush, green grass, a little pond, palm trees as well as some large oaks. There were some nice, blue flowers in bloom, the sword lilies, a really old breed, even rumoured to be originally from earth. The first humans to ever go to space brought them with em thousands of years ago.

I had a favourite tree, and especially tall oak with low hanging branches, that brought cool and shade. It made for a great reading spot. I was going for exactly that spot when I noticed a figure already sitting there. At first, I got angry, it was my place after all, then I noticed the long, dark clothing of said person, as well as the unmistakable hair. Sitting in my spot was Kylo.

As I got closer, I noticed the otherwise rather tense boy’s state of relaxation. He was leaning against the thick stem, his head hanging slightly off kilter as he was apparently dosing, his hair hiding his eyes, the rest of his face slack as well. His plush lips were slightly parted and I had some difficulties prying my eyes away from them. His slender hands were buried softly into the grass, as if he were in touch with the earth underneath itself. I had never before seen a picture of such peace, my anger was blown away without a second thought.

I was actually a little sad that the boy awoke with a start as soon as I got close enough, like he had noticed my presence from several meters away. Now he looked startled and flushed in embarrassment. “Hi” I greeted the boy softly and he responded with a slight bow of his head. “Hello Hux”

As I asked him if it was okay if I joined him, he nodded eagerly. “It’s my favourite spot, you know.” I told him with a smile and was surprised when his lips lifted a little in turn. It was the first time I saw some kind of emotion next to absolute submission on the slave’s face, and in my opinion, it looked absolutely beautiful on him.

I knew early on that I had no interest in girls at all. It took me a while to realize I had any kind of interest like that at all, and it was solely directed to boys. Although this way of living was accepted in the general eye of society, I was sure my father would not approve. I was an illegitimate child named the heir of the Hux family, other than that I had to be absolutely picture perfect. So I kept all thoughts on this to myself strictly, still, I couldn’t help the thought that Kylo was just beautiful in this moment.

“It’s a lovely place indeed. I love nature, it’s so calming, isn’t it?”  
It was the longest sentence until now, that I heard the slave boy say. His voice was still hoarse and low in volume, but he sounded calm, like he said it. If that was the effect a few trees and grass had on Kylo I wanted to see him out of the house every single day myself.  
“You’re definitely right about that, sadly it’s always so hot in summer around here.”

“I don’t go out in summer, Master is worried about my complexion. He said all I would do out in the sun is burn.” I chuckled a little bit and held my own arm out, the sleeve of my white shirt rolled up in the warmth outside to show of my own deathly pale skin. “I’m ginger, I totally get the burning.” I told him, and there it was again, that slight twitch upwards of the others lips.

“Hey, by the way, how did you know I was coming? You looked like you were sleeping to me?” I asked him afterwards and his thin shoulders shrugged slightly. “I just felt it. When I’m outside I feel a lot of things, well basically all living things.”  
“What? Like the tree and the grass and stuff?”  
“Yes, the tree, the grass, the little birds up there and the fish in the pond, and you as well.” He said calmly, pointing up to the crown of the oak, before relaxing against the bark again. “It’s why I love being outside so much, inside stone and metal walls the connection feels so weak.”

After this explanation I should have understood, but I really didn’t, so I just nodded a little baffled, naïve boy that I still was.

After a few more soft words between us I began studying, Kylo simply sitting next to me, silently taking a look at the books over my shoulder sometime, just letting his pale hands wander through the tick grass for the rest of my study session. When we headed inside for dinner, he looked a little rueful.

This was an event, that repeated itself every Sunday from then on and on any other day I managed to get outside too. I felt a lot calmer about Kylo’s presence in the house, my sleep was getting easier again, but I was beginning to wonder if the slave got enough sleep. When we were outside, he was dosing a lot and there were always dark rings beneath his even darker eyes. I didn’t ask. We were forming some kind of tentative friendship I would have said, but that felt like to big a step, like I was intruding on something.

With the secure feeling the low hanging oak was giving us we talked a lot. I told the slave about my love for books, he told me that he could actually read as well, though he was not very good without a lot of practice. That was very rare, I knew, as long as reading was not required for a job, it was a task very few slaves were capable of.  
Kylo told me in return about his love for animals. I had not seen, let alone interacted with a lot of animals, so I didn’t really understand. The slave told me about beautiful bird-like creatures Lord Snoke kept, and also about strong, large beings used in racing tournaments on a faraway gambling planet he had been to with his master before. It really sounded like Snoke took Kylo nearly everywhere he went. When I asked about that the young slave nodded and said that the mission the Lord was undertaking this time was pure business and probably too dangerous to take Kylo with him.

It felt like a big step when I asked about what the slave was doing the whole day, since he was not a slave meant for working. He told me that he liked to take long baths and was in a constant fight with his thick, curly hair afterwards, that he slept a lot during the days, because he seemed to be unable to during the nights and that he liked to draw and sit out in the garden even if he was all alone. He even told me he would go sit next to the pond sometimes to pet the fish. That sounded really weird to me, as fish weren’t animals that liked to be pet, right? But it formed a funny picture in my head indeed.  
All in all, Kylo’s days sounded really long and empty, just plain out boring to me. When I said that though, the other boy just shook his head.

The slave took a rather big step as well, asking me why me and my older sister looked nothing like my mother. I was honest with him and told Kylo, that Brendol’s wife wasn’t my mother and neither was his ex-wife, the mother of Gwendolyn mine. His eyes looked really sad when I explained that my mother had been a slave just like him, working in the house and simply disappearing one day.  
My guess was that I reminded the boy of his own mother, a painful memory that made him look unbearably sad. I did not talk about topics like that again when he was near.

Kylo had been staying with us for over a month now, our friendship solid enough that we could nearly talk about anything out in the galaxies without any hesitation. And it felt good. Until that point, I had never had any real friends. Sure, there were some other kids in the academy that I had ties with, but nothing as intense as the relationship I had with the slave boy. So I felt absolutely shook when I saw Kylo simply collapse one day. One second he looked absolutely fine to me, then his legs gave way, his eyes rolled back and he smacked his head on the marble floor of our corridor hard. There was a small puddle of blood forming already when I was kneeling down next to him and screaming for help.

I carefully tapped his cheek and lifted his head into my lap when there was no reaction. After some time, I couldn’t tell if it were mere seconds or whole minutes, his eyes begun to flutter and his breathing began to stutter. When his dark eyes finally opened there were tears streaming down his thin face instantly, he looked even paler than usual and he began to tremble. Kylo was at the beginning of a shock.  
Luckily there were finally some slaves with us before he could get any worse and carried him carefully to the infirmary where our family physician would take a look at him. I was too shocked to follow them and went to my room instead, where I was staring at a wall without any real purpose. Why did that happen? Was Kylo sick? No, the prized slave of Lord Snoke couldn’t be a simple, sickly boy, right? Was it because he was so thin? Why was Kylo so thin, why was his serving always so small then?!

That evening Kylo wasn’t at dinner, so I went to the infirmary to see him. He was laying in a bed, that made him look even smaller than the child was already. The was an IV needle secured in the back of his hand, and a bandage around his head, the thick hair tamed as much as possible in the form of a little ponytail just above it. He was awake and looked at me with tired eyes as I entered the room. I looked around a little and closed the door, making sure nobody would hear what I was going to ask Kylo.

He smiled a little when I sat down on a chair I pulled next to his bed but didn’t say anything in greeting as he usually would, polite as the boy was.

“Why did you collapse today?” I asked him directly, forgoing any niceties. “That just happens sometimes” he told me with his usual small shrug. “Things like this don’t just happen, especially not on a regular basis.” I answered back, his eyes evading mine while I talked. “Are you sick?” I continued my row of questions. “I’m not, no need to worry.” It was such a simple sentence, practiced in the easy way it came across the boy’s lips. “Is it because you don’t get enough to eat then? Your plate is always filled with the same few things.” I said then with a concerned look at his bony wrists, exposed for the first time since we met. “No. I’m just allergic to a lot of foods. Milk and meat and all that stuff aren’t good for me. Master Snoke is doing his best to keep me healthy with my diet, but sometimes I can’t help it and things like today happen.” Kylo made it sound like it was his own fault he collapsed and I felt that he wouldn’t listened if I began arguing, so I just nodded instead.  
“Okay, get better soon, yeah?” I told him and there it was again, the careful way his lips twitched, the way Kylo smiled.

From then on, my sleep was uneasy again. My thoughts never stopped circling around Kylo anymore. I thought about the nice conversations we led outside and how the boy’s personality seemed to completely change when he was at ease. He was an interesting character, intelligent for his age and standing, well versed in his way with words, although he spoke few of them, always friendly and soft spoken.  
I also thought about his sickly body, the deep bags beneath his eyes and the trembling in his limbs, about he was never able to finish one of his meagre plates and looked pale even though he loved the sun. The tight, golden collar always gleamed in the light, traitorous in the way it marked him.  
I really liked Kylo, but I still could not understand what made him the special slave to Snoke. I didn’t understand, but I had a bad feeling whenever I was looking into the deep pools of his eyes, even after the bandages had vanished and we talked in the shelter of the oak again. Something just wasn’t right.


	3. Truths hidden in the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: In this chapter the rape a of child takes place, seen through the eyes of another child

After his fall and the acquired injury Kylo was down for the count a few days. I visited him in the infirmary whenever I could, never meeting anyone on the way or next to his bed. For the fact that the slave held such an important position at the side of our Lord Snoke everybody seemed pretty fine with leaving him alone with nothing to do.  
Not that it mattered much, the dark-haired boy slept for most of the time, like the exhaustion always clinging to him finally took its toll. Still, I didn’t think it right to just leave him be and was glad, that we had some time together, it helped to calm my nerves as much as his.

On one of these days Kylo asked me something with his typically soft voice. “If you could go wherever you wanted, where would you be?” And I told him without hesitation that I wanted to get a hold of the position my father currently held, a general close to the lord. This answer brought no slight smile to Kylo’s face, there wasn’t any kind of reaction really and that was my que to know that this wasn’t the thing he had hoped for, he just didn’t show any negative feelings as it probably wasn’t wished for a slave to do so.  
“Where would you go then?”

Then there was a long pause and an unsure movement of the slaves protruding shoulders. “Somewhere far away, I think. A forest would be nice and a big lake to bathe in. No humans, but lots of animals, that would be great.” And his words sounded so melancholic and sad that I could barely stomach it. It were the words of a child that knew there was absolutely no possibility of ever actually achieving those dreams and that was just cruel. What was there if no future? Nothing, just an empty, long life before you. Kylo was a slave after all and would be so forever.

The sterile surroundings were getting the other boy down so much, I hoped he could leave soon, and at least I was right about that. Just a few days in the infirmary left Kylo feeling better than I had ever seen him. “That IV was probably full of sugar water or something, it makes me feel better in no time at all, like loading the battery of a droid.” The boy had joked afterwards, but I didn’t really feel like smiling back.  
No way in hell would I compare Kylo to a machine. Though he was the property of Snoke he was still human, I could never forget these words again…

Out in the sun the dark hair got it’s shine back and the uncomfortable strain on our relationship lessened. As our routine was going back to normal so were our conversations. No controversies, no hard feelings, just some pretty talk to make both of us feel better. It was all just for the sake of appearance though. I knew exactly that neither of us slept. The bags beneath Kylo’s eyes were back in full force after only two weeks in the wake of his recovery, and I was steadily growing my own. The weird feeling in my chest left me absolutely unable to get some shut eye, I felt like I was back at square one with the slave.

Afterwards I wished it would have stayed that way. Being back at the beginning would have been much better than falling into despair head first.

The nights were so quiet, I realised this fact when staring up at my roof in the middle of deep darkness. Sometimes there were the hushed steps of a slave wandering through the corridors, but tonight there was nothing. I was thinking about opening my window, so there would at least be the soft sounds of the winds.

Kylo had been staying with our family roundabout two months now. Only one month left before he would return to Lord Snoke’s mansion, at his side as always, but he did not seem to be anticipating his masters return. Instead the boy was beginning to withdraw into himself again. We talked less and only outside under the oak tree, where he felt safe enough to open up a little. Otherwise he didn’t speak anymore, he was back to looking frail and trembling, I feared he would collapse out of nowhere again. Was this a repeating cycle? Was he sick, got treated and felt better afterwards only to fall again? I knew that Kylo had told me he wasn’t sick, but I was not sure anymore how much I should trust these words.

Honestly, the slave looked like he didn’t even know what sleep was, he never even dosed next to me anymore, he didn’t look over my shoulder to get a glimpse at my books, he was just sullenly staring into space. And whenever I would ask what’s wrong all I got was a simple shake of his head, as if that was answer enough.

My own sleep cycle was practically nought. Every night I found myself staring at the roof, just like now. I was beginning to feel like I was going insane, sometimes even imagining soft sounds out in the house, where I objectively knew to be nothing. The only cure was to wander to the bathroom at the end of the hall and take a hot shower or even a look at the small cabinet above the sink. One of the pills there worked surprisingly well with putting me to sleep. It was what I wanted to do this fateful night too.

But when I slowly opened my door, I realised that the sounds I thought to be part of my imagination were actually way clearer out in the hallway. The rooms were isolated pretty well, it was mainly to keep the desert heat out but I hadn’t known it also dimmed the sounds… The only clearly identifiable sound was harsh breathing and I stepped out in the hallway as silently as I could to get a better idea of whom they were.

The room it was coming from was directly across the corridor, Kylo’s room, but it could not be his breathing. The sound was way deeper than his soft voice could manage. It was a muffled moan that gave away Brendol Hux. What was my father doing in our guest’s room in the middle of the night? My heart was trying to beat itself straight out of my chest as I slowly stepped closer, not making a sound. Differently to my father at this moment I even suppressed my breathing to not be noticed.

The door was slightly ajar, the reason for the clear sounds in the hallway and I leaned my body against the wall next to it. With my ears next to the opening I caught on more moans, the stuttering sounds of someone pushing a smaller body into the mattress. Of course I already knew at this point what was happening, I wasn’t stupid even though I was only eleven years old, but my brain was short circuiting, it didn’t want to understand what was happening, so I just stood and listened. There was a small whimper. There was only one single possibility who could have made that sound. It was Kylo’s voice, but over the harsh breathing of my father no other sounds of the boy found their way to my ears.

I should have turned my back. I should have gone back to my room and had to pretend like I never noticed anything for the remaining month. Then I would proceed with my life as normal and never see Kylo ever again.

That would have been the easy solution, but I was never one to take the easy way. The stupid, naïve, little boy that I was just had to see with his own eyes what was happening before he would believe. How desperately stupid of me, seeing with my eyes would change nothing about this horrible situation and yet I turned my head to the room.

Through the gap between the wall and the door I could make out the bed instantly. In the centre of the room the light of the two moons outside the window made the silhouettes visible even to the tired eyes of a child.  
My father filled most of the space with his figure. He wasn’t an especially tall or broad man, but even with his high position as a general the military training was still there, in his strong shoulders and thick legs. The sheets had tumbled to the floor and were lying there, crumpled and useless. Brendol was pushing and pushing, never stopping, one of his hands carrying most of his weight, the other was buried in thick, dark hair belonging to the boy beneath him, barely noticeable underneath the taller figure. His face was pressed against a pillow, swallowing all the sounds that tried to get their way out of the slave’s mouth, the hair that was not tangled around the thick fingers of the older man concealing the rest of his face. I could only make out one of his thin, pale arms from where I was standing, hidden by the shadows. It was lying limp, next to their bodies, only sparsely trembling from time to time, his legs were the only part of his body that were seen well enough, the natural light of the night making his skin glow ethereal.   
The legs that normally looked long and regal appeared childishly small next to Brendol’s. The thick thighs were spreading the boy’s thin ones obscenely wide, combined with the man’s weight on the smaller body making the position look degrading and uncomfortable at best.

My breath hitched and I put a hand over my nose and mouth to conceal any further sounds of panic. Yeah, that’s what I felt, panic. I could not rip my eyes of the shocking sight. That frail, little body beneath my father’s was Kylo’s. It wasn’t just anybody, it was Kylo, the gleam of the golden collar visible even in the deep of the night, while in the shadow of a way taller man. I felt like I was going to sob or even puke, but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. This wasn’t happening to me after all, it was happening to Kylo, the good hearted and well-mannered slave boy that was supposed to be our guest. He was our guest, he was not here to work, right?! Deep down I had known for a long time that all those good looking slaves were not without work, they just had different work then the others, but Kylo.. Kylo was only a child! For fucks sake, he was the same age I am and the man that was currently fucking into his body was my father, how could he?! How could he…

And how was anyone else just watching the other way?! I bet except for me, everybody knew what was happening. That Kylo’s purpose as a slave was pleasure. He was pretty, but in the end weak and not in use for anything but this. How could they treat the beautiful boy like this, ignore his complete personality and just take his body?! He is not a thing, not a machine, he was just a child! And Lord Snoke too.. He was ruthlessly fucking a child at night, destroying his sense of self before it could even form correctly and treating him like a beloved pet at day before the eyes of his whole empire. This wasn’t right, how could it be, why are things like this?!

I was losing my thoughts in a downward spiral when the bed before my eyes gave a loud creak as my father thrusted especially hard, ripping me back out of my own brain again. Brendol’s voice was getting louder, he was coming to an end and there was murder on my mind when I saw the small, pale hand of the slave beneath him clutch the bedding in what I guessed to be indescribable pain.  
It was my turn to leave, but I didn’t turn back to my room, instead I padded to the bathroom without making any sound and locked the door.  
If this was what happened at night at least I understood why Kylo could not sleep in the dark, after what I’ve seen I had to take care of him somehow, there just had to be something I could do for him! So I wet one of the towels with warm water and filled a glass with cold one to drink, put my ear up against to door and waited.

The sound was muffled, but now that I knew it seemed the moans were obvious. It didn’t take much longer until I heard my father’s footsteps out in the hall retreating, probably going up the stairs to go back to bed with his wife after his dick was buried in a child slave like nothing had been different than any other night before. And it really wasn’t. The only one that thought of this as bad was me, all the others around me had accepted that this was normal, that fucking a child was okay because of the collar he wore around his throat.

I waited a little longer to be absolutely sure there was no one out there waiting for me, then I slowly opened the door and made my way back to Kylo. The door was closed correctly this time, but not locked as it opened smoothly when I tried the knob. My eyes were drawn back to the bed instantly. The sheets were still mostly dragging across the floor, but the dark-haired boy had pulled some of it back up, curling his body under the edge of it he secured for himself again. Next to his trembling body there was an ugly bloodstain.  
I closed the door behind me carefully and went to kneel on the floor, in the line of view from the dark eyes, that held no emotion at all. His face was still stained with tear tracks, but in his eyes was neither pain nor sadness or anything else for that matter. It was worrying me greatly, especially when he didn’t react at all. I put the glass and towel on the nightstand next to me before I put my hand on the other boy’s cheek softly and his eyes finally seemed to take notice of my presence.

“Hux?” His voice was even more used up and hoarse than usual and I asked myself what kind of sounds the small body on the bed would have produced if he wasn’t smothered in a pillow. Did Kylo scream and nobody could hear? Was it always like this or did the people in the mansion of the lord just not care about the pain of a child?  
“I’m sorry, but I can’t right now.” Were the next words he formed and I had to think long and hard until I understood what he meant. He thought I was just the same as my father and really, I understood, but still, there were tears leaking out of my eyes as I shook my head.  
“That’s not why I’m here you idiot. I saw what that bastard did, and I can’t… I can’t believe this is okay!”  
“It’s fine, Master allowed it.” The words left me gagging, but I pushed past the nausea and softly pet the other boy’s hair instead. The usually soft strands felt like a rat’s nest in my hand, completely ruined with the force of an adult’s hand in it.  
“It’s not fine. He hurt you, Snoke hurts you too, this is wrong!”  
“But why are things like this, if it’s wrong Hux?”  
“I don’t know.”

There was no better answer, I just didn’t know, I couldn’t understand. Slavery was such an ingrained part of our system, but why did we accept this, why didn’t people see it was wrong? The dark eyes of the slave boy were full of resentment after that, because he didn’t know either, but he hurt.

That night I cleaned Kylo up with as much care as I could muster with my inexperienced hands and gave him some of the pills, I had found for myself to put him to sleep. The next day I bathed him and helped him brush the mess of his thick hair. It was such an intimate gesture, even after I had seen him completely naked that I felt like we were even closer now.  
Some nights he would come to me on his own and get me for help with a bath and his hair. From the state he was in at those nights I could guess my father had visited the slave’s room again, but except for taking care of the aftermath there was nothing I could do. It’s just how things were, there was no one I could ask for help on this matter and just like Kylo I was still a child…

That last month went past us way to fast. We upheld the tradition of sitting under the oak, sometimes I would hand the slave a book to read by himself, other times he would sleep while leaning on me. In the mornings I would help him brush out his hair disregarding the signs of struggle in his room, in the evening we often bathed together. Before that I was definitely a shower guy, but he taught me how relaxing it could be to just be sitting in a tub of hot water.

“One day I will take you to a planet with a forest and lots of animals, like you wished for.” It was a promise I knew I was unable to keep even as a child, but Kylo’s smile was so nice that I just wished to see it one more time before he’d leave forever. And smile he did, before he started crying in earnest, holding on to my arm with sobs so soft I was sure nobody who was farter away than two meters would be able to hear. Everything Kylo did was soft and silent, muted as if he knew nobody would hear anyway, so why make a sound to begin with.  
“I’ll miss you Hux, I will never forget what you did.” Was what the dark-haired boy answered when I took his thin face in my hand again. If there were tears leaking out of my own eyes as well no word of it was ushered.

And one day Kylo just wasn’t there anymore, when I asked Brendol at dinner he told us that Lord Snoke was back and had taken his slave with him. He also said that the Lord had been delighted with the great care the Hux family had given for his beloved prize. It was such a vile statement, but I just nodded and waited with the puking till after dinner. In my room I cried until I fell asleep, absolutely exhausted. There wasn’t even a chance to say goodbye.

The encounter I had with the slave named Kylo when I was eleven years old had a great impact on my own personality. I didn’t want power for the simple sake of strength and show anymore, I realised that I wanted to change something. Our empire, that was built on the suffering and exploitation of those we deemed beneath us was wrong, the very concept of slavery was wrong. I knew because of my mother, I knew because of Kylo who belonged to the leader of this system himself and I knew because of the slaves I saw every single day. Working slaves were already bad, but what really got to me was the fate of all the pleasure slaves out there.  
Every high standing family held their own, every club had some of them as a part of their property and there were always new ones. Women, men and even children without any kind of protection, their owner could do to them whatever he wanted a never-ending chain of pain. It sickened me, and I knew I would gain power and change things because I couldn’t stand it any longer.

As I celebrated my thirteenth birthday, I moved to the military academy permanently to get my education finished. I excelled in every single class, even all those stupid sports classes where I was kind of at a disadvantage compared to all them tall teens around me. The physic of my mother in combination with my rather ordinary father left me to grow a rather slight build. I was more on par with most of the few girls that visited the academy, but what I did not have in the gift of a large build I made up for with hard work.

I was a top student, but I had a hard time getting along with the other kids. Most of them were presumptuous bastards, that lived a comfortable life thanks to their well know fathers, without working a single day. I despised them. Really, the only person I got on with was a girl a little older than me. I skipped some of the classes so I was always the youngest, but that was fine by me, even if it meant nobody liked me. Except for Phasma.  
She had a hard time at the academy too. It wasn’t strange for girls to visit a military school, but it was weird when said girl towered over all of her male counterparts. She had short, blond hair and steely grey eyes that left her enemies cowering. She was constantly involved in fights and that was what I liked about her. Her hate for the system we lived in burned just as strong as my own. She was a half breed, alien biology had allowed her to grow so tall and strong in the first place, but prejudice followed her around like a dark dog willing on biting her in the ass.

Together we were a force you had to reckon, so by the time I was sixteen we were left alone, nobody would even look in our direction the wrong way. Our friendship stayed strong even after graduation. It was seen to that we could be a part of the same squadron while serving in the name of Lord Snoke. Both of us hated that time, but we had to make a name for us first before we could change anything. It was also the time when I told her about my motivation, about Kylo. She was the first person I ever told about him and she understood without question why I became the person I was today.

We began climbing the ranks quickly, respected by our higher ups and the soldiers beneath us equally. Phasma was happy to be officially announced as my first officer when I was promoted to the role as a vice general.

While playing the raising stars in the empire military for everyone else we were scheming for it’s downfall in secret. We were busting slave rings left and right, framing them for illegal methods of acquisition or anything else that was not allowed in the way of handling slaves. Which was difficult sometimes because the trade of human beings in general was just fine with society.

It was getting on my nerves, without any rights to their name we could only do so much for slaves and fighting for their rights out in the open would be a death sentence to our careers. That was when we first made contact with the rebellion, or rather the group found a way to contact us.  
The rebellion was a rather large group that was openly fighting the regime of the empire, stating it unjust that we just kept on conquering smaller star systems. They said Snoke held too much power in his hands and they were also against the discrimination of other species and the slavery, that held tenthousands of beings captive in the hands of the empire.

They weren’t wrong obviously but I was unsure if working with them would be any good. Their organisation was made out to be illegal and terroristic after all.

It was Phasma that pushed me in the right direction back then. By ourselves there was just not enough we could do, but together with the rebellion we would be more powerful. So we teamed up. Phasma and I would keep our positions within the empire and help the rebellion with information and funding.

When I was twenty-one Brendol Hux died of a heart attack nobody had seen coming. And it was me, Armitage Hux, the late general’s son, who was gifted his position, one of the highest ranks there is. The youngest general, chosen by the great Lord, Snoke himself.  
I was also twenty-one when I finally got to see Kylo again, after ten long years.


	4. Dark eyes in a shady crowd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU, obviously, so I make things like planets and names up sometimes, bare with me ;)

My promotion to the position of a general was celebrated in three different ways.  
The first and theoretically most important one was the official celebration. Everyone with rank and name was invited. There was a traditional ceremony wherein I was gifted with the greatcoat of a general and my own ship. Well ship was an understatement, the Finalizer was a first class star destroyer that could hold more people than most cities did.  
I also got my crew, over 50’000 enlisted soldiers, more than 10’000 stormtroopers and just as many officers of all kinds were from now on tied to the name of General Armitage Hux.  
Phasma also celebrated a big promotion as she was still my first in command and while she was not made for a role strictly resigned to the bridge of a ship, she took the head of all combatants in the crew. She would be my hand in action and I was proud of what we made of ourselves. Her gift from the lord was a shining, silver armour, that didn’t just look exceptional on her tall frame, but was also out of the strongest, lightest and most enduring materials our empire would gift us with.  
On this celebration there was tons of press and a feast, that was perfect for introductions to all the other generals and connections you needed to make, it was formal and a façade, like the rest of this rotten empire.

The second celebration was of course private. Phasma and I were happy to take on the role of a flagship in this system. It would be even more dangerous from now on, but the gain from our sabotaging would be even greater with our high positions. We downed a bottle of the most expensive whiskey we could find together and were praised for our efforts by the rebellion, that was always silently on our side.

And then there was the third celebration. It was held in secret as well, the public was not supposed to know of the real gifts that were made in the shadows of the military that was supposed to protect them.  
The invitation came directly from Snoke himself and this time Phasma’s name was not on the guestlist. The celebration was held in one of the Lord’s many residencies on a different planet. It was a rather small planet named Krima. It wasn’t very well known as it wasn’t of much use to our empire. Most of it was covered in a vast and deep ocean that was said to be filled with large sea creatures. The climate was average, but there was near constant rain, so the rock of a planet wasn’t exactly great.  
Still, Snoke had built himself a mansion there and I was invited to a party there, held in my honour, so I followed the call of our Lord. The Finalizer was left in orbit and I travelled down to the steep cliffs by myself. What I found wasn’t really a mansion and more of a tower, covered in impressive glass fronts, that went even deeper than the moody shores of the enormous ocean that filled everything in sight. The flat top of the cliffs was already full of small ships.

I met a few men outside in the pouring rain that congratulated me for inheriting the great position and keeping the Hux name in high honour before hurrying inside where we were greeted by pretty, blond woman. They were only sparsely dressed and the golden collars around their throat gave away their position as slaves. They took our coats for us and led us to a big elevator that went down fast. When we stepped out the light was different, my guess was that it had to be an underground level and a blink in the direction of the windows confirmed that we were indeed under the water front.

But the water wasn’t the most impressive view, the murky grey was actually quite boring compared to the rest of the room. The ceiling was covered in lamps of exotic shapes that cast a warm but dim light, the walls painted in a soft blue-grey colour to fit the ocean outside perfectly and the furniture looked to be past expensive. There were exclusive paintings and a bar with alcohol from throughout all of the galaxies, the guests were wearing evening attires of all shapes and sizes, the whole event seemed to drip with decadency. It was actually less like a room and more like a hall, it’s size spanned nearly the whole width of the tower. And in the middle, there was a lounge that seated Lord Snoke. Next to him were the other four generals, smoking cigars and laughing.

There was also an abundance of slaves around. At the official event there had been few, only serving food and drink, demure and quit, practically invisible. It had been a little confusing actually. Here, in this tower they were presented like exotic birds. This was the personal collection of Lord Snoke’s best, I realized. All women and man were incredibly beautiful, there were some rare alien species as well and featured a smooth golden collar, sometimes more golden accessories to fit their garments. Some of them were eerily young, sending a shiver down my spine.

I went with the other men, that had come with me to greet the Lord. Again, I was praised for my rapid ascend in the military ranks and I was told that this here was the real celebration. Nothing formal, only fun, I should sit here with the Lord and the generals for as long as I pleased. Everything was free to use for the guests of Lord Snoke, including the slaves of course. I was told that downstairs were rooms we could use, but up here was fine too if that was more my thing.  
The whole conversation made me feel rather uncomfortable. These people here were the absolute worst, but I had to deal with it. If I left too soon the generals would take notice of my oddities around slaves, that would probably be the worst case for my secret mission.

As the celebration went on my thoughts wandered through the crowd. My eyes were searching for a dark mop of hair and pale skin. For the others it probably just looked like I was scanning for some slave that fit my taste. In reality I was looking for Kylo. Once he was Snoke’s absolute favourite, but that was ten years back. For all I knew, the boy could be dead. Disappeared without a trace, just like my mother, disposed of by his master as he was no longer a child.

I drowned my thoughts in glasses of expensive drinks. The Lord was calmly watching. One of the other generals had already vanished down the elaborate staircase, a delicate young man in his arms. General Tharel, a man that was already in his fifties wasn’t even that collected anymore and had a woman pinned beneath him right here on the couch, directly next to his fellow generals and his Lord. Tch, how was I to keep my respect for a man that couldn’t keep it in his pants for five more minutes, this was absolutely ridiculous.

Things went on like this for way to long, until Snoke’s eyes got caught on the stairs and he sent Tharel and his chosen slave away. One of the figures made their way from the stairs straight to the lounge, but he took his time. His movements were lethargic and a little sluggish, his form tall and angular, the things that gave away early on that this figure had to be of a man. But he was scarily thin and only partially dressed, a slave then. His torso was covered in a large, black t-shirt, that fell from one shoulder and sported a plunging, V shaped neckline. It also fell past his hips, covering little though. His legs were bare, as were his feet, the private parts only covered by a black slip and the little corner of his shirt.  
On top of his head there was a dark mop of thick and untamed hair, curls falling into his face, the skin pale as if he’d never seen the sun. He wasn’t polished or dressed prettily like the other slaves, even his collar stood out. It was thick and metal, covering most of the slender neck and hindering most of his movements, it wasn’t golden, but plain.

When he reached the lounge it was silent, the two remaining generals had stopped laughing and put their glasses down, most of the slave’s eyes were on us. The tall slave lowered himself to the ground, he knelt at Snoke’s feet and the Lord laughed. It was a gruesome sound I had never heard before and never wished to hear again. It was mean and degrading and as he put one of his possessive, gangly hands in the hair of the kneeling slave I felt like throwing up, or at least like throwing a punch.

The slave was close enough now that I could really look at him. On his legs were some scars, same with his arms, even under his collar peeked some slivery lines that spoke of old injuries. What scared me most though were the track marks on the inside of both his elbows. Wasn’t the obvious abuse enough, was it really necessary to drug that poor soul as well?  
That was when dark eyes met mine. The slave’s face was so familiar that I had to take another swig out of my glass first. A dark bruise covered one side, but that was a view I had already seen before, right? The strong brow and chin were new, they came with growing up, losing your baby fat, but the long nose, the plush lips, high cheekbones and the sad look were just the same as ten years back.  
The slave that was kneeling before Lord Snoke, just as a beloved pet would have was Kylo. Kylo was still alive, and he was still in the same horrible place as before and even though I had worked my whole life to change things, right now there was nothing I could do. There was the same feeling of helplessness constricting my chest as back then, when I saw him in a child’s body, pinned beneath the figure of my father.

“Did you do good for Lord Asmera?” asked Snoke and the slave nodded once. “Yes master” The voice had grown deeper, but it was just as quiet and hoarse. I couldn’t tell if it was from disuse or overuse this time around. Had Kylo been in one of the rooms downstairs with some shady Lord, getting fucked and screaming his lungs out? My eyes watered and I quickly covered it up with another deep gulp from my glass. “Good job” the Lord soothed in a creepy voice and pet the unbruised cheek in front of him roughly, as if patting a horse.  
That was when Snoke’s hand opened his pants, gabbed a fist full of black hair and pulled the slave’s face towards his crotch. “Be useful while I talk some business, yeah?” The other hand placed himself around the top part of his throat, the only part not covered by thick, clunky metal, probably constricting his airflow even more.

It wasn’t like he had a lot of choice, so I saw how Kylo opened his mouth. I couldn’t stomach any more of this, so my eyes met those of Lord Snoke and stayed there, without wandering further down. “What did you want to talk about then my Lord?” I asked in a perfectly neutral tone while there were slight sounds of chocking in the air as the slave was held down longer then he could handle. I ignored it and put my own façade up.

“My real gift to you, General Hux. A fleet and a coat, that were the things that automatically came with your position, but this is a personal gift from myself.” For the fact that the noble Lord was currently getting his cock sucked he sounded pretty calm and collected, though a little out of breath. That would have been impressive if it weren’t for Kylo, who was continually chocking and coughing miserably between the legs of the old man I currently held a conversation with.

“You can choose a planet for your first conquering. It will be yours to keep, including all of it’s inhabitants of course.” And until this point I had thought I had already seen the most gruesome sides of our empire and it’s Lord already, but this topped every single thing. A whole planet sold into slavery for my own personal gain, a gift all of the former generals had received to reach unearthly wealth.

If the public knew about such atrocities, I was sure they would reject Snoke and his cruel ways. It could have happened to every single one out there as most of the planets now part of the empire was once annexed rather forcefully. Their own fate and safety, that was what got to people. I just needed a way to prove it. And my way to prove was currently all around me, this tower, these slaves, the generals and of course, Lord Snoke himself. I need to dig all these things out for the public and then, I could change all this, all I needed to do was stay close to Snoke’s side until I could make him fall.

A plan was beginning to form in my head as white, ugly semen streaked down Kylo’s face, dripping into his eye and mixing with tears as he was gasping for air. The dark eyes were searching for mine, but I was not ready yet to meet Kylo’s.

“That is very generous of you my Lord, but I’ll need some time to think of which planet is in a good position for conquering and will bring resources to our empire. I would like to leave now and start my planning right away if that is alright with you Lord Snoke?”

“Ahh the eagerness of a young general, what a pleasure, ever loyal, but you do not need to think of the empire, this is your personal decision. Go and have some fun general Hux, the door to the tower will always be opened at your call.”

With the allowance to leave I stood up and turned my back even if it was hard. I felt the dark eyes of the slave I had been hoping to see again for years burning me. He had not forgotten, ever after all he went through, and I just left him again. It broke my heart, as much as his, but hardened my will, I would come back for him…

But for now, I needed to leave, I had to talk to Phasma and the resistance about our next step. Until now we only communicated through encrypted text, but that wouldn’t do this time. We finally had to meet the resistance, it was time for an open rebellion. My expression was grim as I stepped out in the rain and for the duration of the flight my eyes would not leave the waters below me, but back on the Finalizer I was back to looking straight ahead of me. A storm was coming.


	5. Two Generals

Once I was back on the Finalizer Phasma and I retired to our quarters. The ship was ordered to leave Krima’s orbit, but we stayed in the same star system as the small planet, we would spend the next weeks patrolling around here, where we could form plans in peace. Plans to conquer any planet I wanted.

In reality Phasma and myself would of course be planning how to meet with the resistance in secret and how to continue from now on without being found out, but still gaining proof against Snoke and his regime.

But first I had to tell my closest friend what I had seen on the inconspicuous planet. The blond-haired woman was appalled as I told her about the decadency inside the tower, all the high ranking and well-known guests to the party and most importantly Kylo and all the other pleasure slaves kept there.

She was comfortingly running her large hand down my back as angry tears dripped from my lashes as I was speaking about Kylo and the terrible state he was in. The slavery was horrible, but this was personal and got to me on a whole other level. The whole ordeal made me feel like the eleven-year-old boy again, that just witnessed the rape of his friend in the dark.  
He was still Snoke’s favourite, it seemed, but he wasn’t a small boy anymore, he was treated roughly and mean. He looked sickly, hurt and malnourished even though I couldn’t bring myself to look at him very long back in the tower. The details were probably even worse.

I knew that a lot of pleasure slaves got drugged, either to assure their obedience or to suppress them further. As a child Kylo had been very obedient, I couldn’t imagine him rebelling against his master in any way, but who knew? Ten years changed you a lot.  
The other option was even more saddening, but it happened a lot. These violations often left the slaves utterly traumatized, they just couldn’t handle it, especially those who had been pleasure slaves since their childhood, just like Kylo. They went insane, tried to hurt or even kill themselves, because for a slave, dying was the only chance to reach freedom and stop the violence dealt their way.  
The drugs could stop them from even thinking that far ahead, only living inside their head really. For most of them, there was no way back and if there was any kind of god, or even the power of the force, I would beg them that Kylo was not that far gone yet, so that I could still save him.

Phasma helped a lot with bearing the pain, but also saw a chance in this. I was now a part of the closest circle around Snoke and his secret society and we would use that against him. I, Armitage Hux, would be the one to stab him in the back as soon as I got my chance.

And for that we needed the help of the resistance. In the same night we made contact and planned for a call, to discuss the details of a meeting.  
The organisation answered promptly and we set the call between myself and their leader, Leia Solo for the next week.  
In the meantime, both parties would be looking for a good meeting point, that would not reveal us to the empire and gather more information on the subject at hand.

It was a taxing week, but at least our research of different planets was easily disguised as the search for a planet to conquer.

The night we set our call I had a long, calming shower and dressed myself in a pristine, white shirt and comfortable, black slacks, gelled my hair and set my research out. The door to my quarters was firmly locked and guarded by two of Phasma’s most trusted stormtroopers. There was nothing I could do about the deep, dark circles beneath my eyes, but I could guess that Solo’s face looked even worse. Sleep was probably rare while leading a resistance group.

At 11:28 I positioned myself in front of the large holoscreen, that would host our call and waited. The connection was built up automatically as soon as the call was sent, Phasma had found as a young Lieutenant, that would fight for our cause and luckily he was the head of our communications department. Mitaka did good with hacking his way through the empire’s systems, so we could make the call even though I was still on the Finalizer.

At 11:30 on the dot I saw myself standing in front of Leia Solo. She was positioned in the head of a ship, most of the devices in the background clearly identifiable as different navigation and weapons systems, manned by people of all species. There was a gruff looking man at her left side that looked kind of similar to the strong woman, even through the scruffy beard covering his face. On her right side stood another man, he was taller and had short, grey hair and a handsome face, even though his nose was rather long and the ears kind of big. It was definitely a face you would remember. Same went for Solo as well, her face was interesting, but the look on it as stern as the tight bun she had bundled her hair in. Their clothes looked functional and honestly, a little dirty, but they were constantly on the run, who was I to judge them for something as naught as clothing?

“My name is General Armitage Hux, just Hux is fine though, as we’ve been working together for years now, I guess. I’m happy to receive your call.” I introduced myself as we had never actually seen us before and inclined my head a little in respect.

“As you probably already know my name is Leia Solo, Leader of the resistance you’ve been graciously helping out. To my left stands my brother, Luke Sykwalker and to my right my husband Han Solo. It is good to finally see your face, young one.” She said with an impressively soft smile in turn, for such a hardened woman. The men’s answer were simple, slight nods in my direction, their eyes still roaming over me and the background to make sure I didn’t plan on anything. I understood why they were suspicious and said nothing.

“We decided it would be better for our organisation if you didn’t know our meeting point. It’s safer for us, you have to understand.” She said then and I nodded carefully. “I understand. What was your plan of action then?” I asked and watched as a young man stepped in view of my screen. His hair tousled and dark in colour, as was his olive skin tone.

“This here is Poe Dameron, our best pilot. You will meet him on Dema II, we’ll send you the exact coordinates and he’ll take you from there to our location. You will be back in under a week, if that’s all right with you?”

That toppled my plans, but I could understand their concerns. They simply took the greater risks while meeting with me, so I agreed to the plan and went to Dema II a few days later. It was easy to explain my absences as scouting as long as I went alone. The meeting point was in the middle of a forest. I thought of Kylo, but before I could get to melancholic there were the clear sounds of an engine in the air. Shortly after the pilot, Poe Dameron picked me up as promised. And he really was an exceptional flight. He moved silently but fast and disappeared in the vastness of space without anybody taking notice of us.

The flight took several hours, but we didn’t talk all that much. He didn’t just seem suspicious to me, but more like he just didn’t fancy the company of a warlord that served beneath Snoke, his biggest enemy. He had that distinct disgusted look in his eyes, but hey, I couldn’t stand all the other generals either, I still had to prove myself as any different to him I guessed. Fine by me, I wasn’t helping the rebellion to make friends anyway.

When we landed, I found myself on some backwater planet, covered in sparse, but gigantic trees and weird rock formations. In between were ruins, most of them looked to be empty from afar, but somewhere the resistance was hiding.  
Dameron flew us to one of the larger formations and landed smoothly in a small valley, that covered the ship from sight naturally. Then he led me down some caverns and soon voices were heard. It was Luke Skywalker and a young girl, that met us on our way. We exchanged small greetings and the girl was introduced as Rey, Skywalker’s apprentice. I didn’t really understand, but I didn’t care all that much either, so I just followed them to their Leader.

Leia and Han Solo were sitting next to a fire in an especially large cave that was well lit and also well inhabited. There were lots of people, most of them busy with crates or weapons, some lounging at the fires. It was a perfectly hidden base, nobody would look for the resistance inside of the mountains. This time I made a real bow before the leaders of the rebellion and greeted them as Mr. and Mrs. Solo.

That brought a loud laugh out of the man. “Oh please, you’re so young, stop making me feel older than I already am. This is Leia, and just call me Han. Even though we’ve never met, you’ve been with us for a long time, no reason to be so formal, come and have a seat.”

I gave a polite smile back and sat across from them. The warmth of the fire was nice. Skywalker, Rey and Dameron sat down as well, filling the space between us comfortably.

“You wanted to speak to us directly for the first time, so we took your request very seriously.” Leia spoke, straight so business as I had expected from the woman.  
“Yes, I have gathered important information since my promotion. Information that will lead to the fall of Snoke and his men if we follow it’s lead.” I explained and began to tell them all I had learned on Krima.

It told of the location of the small planet and the tower, that held the private feasts and slaves of the Lord. I counted down the names of the people I had seen there, the inner circle of Snoke and most importantly I told them about my gift. My planet. And they all agreed, if the public knew, they would no longer want to live under Snoke’s regime.

But that meant I had to keep close to Snoke and gather prove. They all agreed that it was a hard and dangerous job to be directly at the Lord’s side and dig through his dirt without him noticing, they would understand if I did not want to do this, but I saw the hope in their eyes. Especially Rey’s large doe eyes got me if I was completely honest. I agreed without hesitation.  
I was introduced to Finn, a young, dark-skinned man, that held a friendly smile and offered me his hand. I shook it with a proud smile of my own.  
I would take him and Rey back with me and place them in my crew and Han would always have an eye on us. He was good at doing his own thing I was told.

We all agreed that the most important steps were to dig through the tower and the Supremacy, the personal flagship of the Lord and of course, all the personal records of the inner circle. The resistance took on the last job, finding out everything about them was easy after I had given them names. So my small crew of Phasma, Lieutenant Mitaka, Finn, Rey and myself took on the challenge of the tower and the Supremacy, with Han, his Wookie friend Chewbacca and Skywalker as back up if needed.

It was a risk and a challenge I was more than willing to undertake, I was determined to do it as fast as possible really. I wanted to finally change things, I wanted to save Kylo with all my might!

When Dameron flew me back to Dema II he had warmed up a little. I had impressed him with my will to take on such a dangerous mission it seemed to me. He wished me luck and hugged Rey and Finn, who had already changed into uniforms of my fleet.  
It was Phasma that picked me and my two new recruits up, she was practically humming with excitement, that we would finally take action, and I could not suppress a smile of agreement.

Over the next days we planned for a false conquering. It was a total fake, I had no intention at all to go through with it, but it had to look realistic. As soon as it was complete, I went back to the tower, I had to present it to Snoke. While he looked it over, I had time to wander the tower and gather information. If I found Kylo while looking it would be pure coincidence, nobody needed to know about that.

When I landed my small shuttle back on Krima, the cliffs were empty, expect for maybe two or three other ships. The rain was pouring again, the clouds were even darker than last time I visited this pathetic rock, lightning raging in the skies and connection to the water all around.

The weather was always foretelling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one felt a little like filler to me, but you know how it is. Sometimes there's introductions to make and plans to form and stuffing more story here just felt wrong. Next chapter will be a lot more intense again, I promise ;)


	6. Knights chained by fate

This time a young domestic slave opened the doors to the tower for me. She was pretty enough, but just not as outstanding as the pleasure slaves bound to the Lord’s name, ordinary I’d say. It was probably for the best, housework like cooking and cleaning were most definitely the better tasks around here. She gave me a polite smile while taking my coat and leading me to the elevator but I could guess what her real feelings towards the regular guests of Snoke were. It was a hate we shared without her knowing. I was sure I could gain allies here, open eyes and unnoticed ears would be of great use to my goals.  
I gave her a charming smile in return und placed a small credit unit in her palm in a secretive motion. She gave me a weird look in the last seconds before the elevator doors closed between us.

This time I went up instead of down. Snoke’s office was even higher than the top of the cliffs, overseeing every single thing on this barren planet.  
I knocked on the heavy, old-school wooden door and waited patiently for an answer. Again, I was greeted by a domestic slave, dressed in a simple, white shirt and black slacks, that looked a little big on his young frame. The brown-haired boy would probably still grow into his clothes. He gave a deep bow before me and turned back to his master, asking permission of Lord Snoke to have me enter.

It was granted instantly and it was my turn to bow, though not as deep as a slave, that would have been inappropriate for someone of my standing.  
“Ah young General Hux, you planned fast if you’re already here again to inform me of your way of action.” He praised me and gave a deep, rumbling laugh. It made me uncomfortable, reminding me of our last conversation with Kylo kneeling between the old man’s legs.  
“Indeed, but it is not a finished plan yet. I was just here for you to have a look at it and give your approval. If there is a chance, I would like for at least one of my fellow generals to look it over for me as well. You know, as they already made a plan like this on their own before. I’m a little old-fashioned when it comes to things like this, but I like to really meet up for such a personal discussion, just a transmission seems like wasting my resources if I could learn so much more face to face.” I explained a little sheepish and placed my pad with all the fake plans on the large desk the Lord sat at.

I observed the room, while the Lord was already beginning to scroll through my documentations. Like everything here, it seemed overly lavish to me. The office space was large, with an incredible view and not much furniture, it was mainly the desk, a few stylish cupboards and exotic plants. Well there wasn’t all that much needed in an office anyway, there was no need for physical copies of things anymore with the amazing tech the empire had access to. Everything was digital, one of those pads could hold more information than this whole room could have. So this large, luxurious space just seemed unnecessary to me. What a waste of our resources, money that could have been used for things with much more importance to our people…

“You have luck on your side General Hux, at this moment General Sola is also residing here. He comes here often for small vacations and the use of my slaves. You could also stay here for a couple days. Quarters of your standard and free to use are on level fifteen, but I’d guess Sola to be on one of the underground levels, having some fun if you know what I mean. You should relax too, you know? I’ll take my times with this.” Snoke said and practically dismissed me with this last sentence.  
I indicated my head respectfully to the large man and turned to leave. My plan was going into action smoothly, I could sneak around unnoticed and make contact with General Sola. He was a nasty man, inhabiting his rank for a long time already, 42 years of age and growing grey slowly. He was well known throughout the fleet for his hardness and ruthlessness as a commander and an absolute nightmare for his enemies, he hadn’t softened with age one bit.  
It would be a joy to betray this man, I would use every single thing he told me here when the time for that came.

But for now, I had to act friendly and build my bridges, that goes for Sola as much for the slaves here. Having them on my side would benefit the resistance greatly.  
I left the office behind and sent the elevator to the first underground level. From here you could see the waves crash against the glass front. It was a little scary actually, even though I knew perfectly well that the tower was stable, the force of the ocean was impressive. The sea and space had a lot in common if you thought about it, it’s dark vastness, the constant soft movement with near to no gravity and uncountable secrets, such as the weird creatures living there and the mysterious force.  
I wondered briefly if you could see a lot of the undiscovered creatures living in Krima’s ocean through the glass front of this tower.

I wandered through the halls with open eyes and took stair after stair to go further down. It was unnaturally quiet around here except for the crashing of the waves. On the first underground level there was a huge kitchen, a glance inside revealed only few domestic slaves cooking away calmly. Then there was an even bigger dining hall, that took in most of the room on this level.  
On the levels three, four and five were the quarter of the slaves. From the spaces between the doors I’d guess the rooms were quite small, but at least they got the luxury of their own space. And the poor slaves here definitely needed their own space sometimes, absentmindedly I brushed one of the doors with the tips of my fingers. Was Kylo sleeping behind one of these doors? I had no time to dwell on things like these so I left the quarters behind quickly and went further down. Soon I reached the levels I had already seen at the party, the large lounge room with the bar and beneath it the lavish rooms I would best describe as a brothel. After checking for sounds I went inside to have a look and took some photos of the expensive decorations, the huge beds and the pristine bathrooms each room had to offer with a small portable pad I had brought for exactly this task.  
From here on it was quiet. The ocean didn’t produce sound anymore so far underwater, but muffled it instead.

Beneath this level it got darker and not just because the ocean swallowed all the light the faraway sun had to offer. The floor was made up of black marble, no soft carpets or crafty wooden boards in sight. Everything seemed to be hard and solid, the furniture had changed in style as well, as if Snoke had hidden his dark tastes deep underground where they belonged.  
And I had yet to find any trace of General Sola or any of the other guests currently residing the tower.

It was on this sinister level that I heard an angry scream reverberate of the walls. “Ah shit, that slut bit me again!” followed be a harsh sound of a fist hitting soft flesh, this time a most definitely a female cry cracking through the air. I ran down the corridor fast and quickly found the door that emitted the sounds of crying and cursing.  
I opened the door and involuntary found a lot of things I had been looking for in the same place.  
In the middle of the dark marble floor was a big bed that held a group of bodies, so tangled I had difficulties to make out their numbers. There was of course the crying woman, who had fallen halfway of the bed with the force she’d been hit with and the man that was at fault towering over her, still cursing like a sailor and holding on to his dick. Ha, he probably just got what he deserved, what was the fuss about.  
There was a second man I did not recognize by face and then there was the General I had been searching out. The other two men were probably close friends or trusted subordinates. Their moral was just as dubious as Sola’s I guessed, I had to remember their faces well.  
Beneath the two men there was another set of naked bodies. Closer to the door was a slender young man, his hair an unnaturally light blond, that only came with living in darkness for your whole life and a weak dusting of freckles on his pale limbs. His eyes were utterly shocked, staring straight in my direction. Behind him was a pair of long, equally pale legs sticking out beneath the General himself. A mop of dark, tousled hair peeked up at the sudden interruption. It was Kylo, the third slave on the bed was Kylo and I felt cold fury building in my chest.

“I heard a scream and came to check if everything’s all right.” I quickly explained my presence to the three men of rank and earned a sneer from the one that had been bitten.  
“Yeah, I’m gonna teach that bitch a lessen and then everything will be just fine, right?” he asked in a menacing tone, obviously not directed at me, but at the poor girl, that was crying silently now. She started to beg in a low tone and hiccupped softly, but the men just laughed together in a distorted choir before he got up and started to kick her.  
I didn’t know what to do, I had no right to stop him, but things were escalating quickly, if he went on like that, he would kill her. The other nameless slave had realised that to and was trying to speak to the general, carefully pushing his own partner away a little. He looked desperate and I couldn’t help but share the sentiment. His pleas and motions were answered with a harsh slap to the face. The man above him grabbed the boy’s arm and turned him over with unnecessary force, pushing his body into the mattress. His protests faded, but the girl was still screaming and crying out in pain and fear.

And then there was Kylo. The general was still focused on him, as if this whole event didn’t even involve him. As if it were just him, and Kylo.

I stepped inside, closing the door after me and got a little closer to the aggressive man, that just didn’t calm down, even after kicking the poor slave across the room and cussing her out with all his might. He was crowding her against the wall now and pulling her up with a painful grip in her tangled hair, only to punch her down to the floor again. Briefly I caught the eyes of the blond slave again, still pinned on the bed, silent, but pleading to me with his eyes to do something.  
I grabbed the shoulder of the man before me and pulled him back a little.  
“You need to calm down sir. If you’ll go any further with this, you’re most definitely going to kill her and as she is Lord Snoke’s property and not yours that would be illegal.” I spoke to him in an authoritarian, but neutral tone to try and calm him down, but not in a way that would give my sympathy for slaves away, merely doting on the official rules of our empire as a good general should.

“Well to bad that I don’t fucking care and neither does the Lord, so what if I kill the bitch, it’s what she deserves!” was the screamed answer I received in combination with a rough shove before he just went back to kicking and punching the poor girl. At this point she was a bleeding, crying and screaming mess. It probably wouldn’t take much more for her to pass out, or much worse, die of the sustained injuries.

Before I could try and say something more, I felt the floor beneath my feet shake. The boy on the bed screamed something I did not quite understand and there were more sounds of hitting in the air, as well as pained breathing and crying, this time emitting from more than one slave.  
It was the General’s turn to curse loudly and if I listened closely there was Kylo’s voice as well. He was still so hoarse and faint, but I heard him and it broke my heart.  
“No, please no, stop, you need to stop this.” He was pleading with Sola. The only thing it did was make the men even angrier and I felt like the scene was slipping out of my fingers, this was escalating into something where I held absolutely no control.  
The unnamed man dragged the blond slave off the bed and threw his slender form to the floor in a cruel way, clearing my view to Kylo and Sola. The dark-haired slave was pushing against the Generals chest in a desperate manner, shaking his head vehemently and closing his legs. Sola grabbed one of his fragile looking wrists out of the air and struck him across the face so hard the room went silent. General Sola’s presence was so big and intimidating as soon as he spoke, that even his fellow men and the crying girl fell still.

“Stop this nonsense immediately! As long as I get what I want I don’t fucking care if there’s a slave getting beaten to death in that corner, and you don’t care either, because you just belong to me right now, got it you piece of shit!”

Surprisingly everybody seemed so much calmer after this screaming and didn’t move into action again. All eyes were on Sola in muted horror as he was trying to subdue Kylo again, who only seemed to get more hysterical with every wheezing breath he took. He was crying madly, sobbing and trying to rip his arm out of the brutal hand that was gripping it, leaving ugly marks on pale skin.  
All I wanted to do was try and help him, get that monster of a man off him, but I was so close to my goal, it would ruin every single thing I’ve been fighting for so long and Snoke would laugh in my face, executing me as a traitor. I bit my tongue and clenched my fists in anger to keep my silence.  
The older man was pushing a hand between the milky, white thighs forcefully and Kylo screamed. “No, no I don’t want this, stop, STOP!”

That’s when I felt it again. The air around us was practically vibrating with energy, and then it wasn’t just the air, the furniture had started to shake, there was the sound of a painting crashing to the floor, somewhere a vase shattered, the shards flying through the air menacingly. The metal frame of the bed was squealed in an ear-piercing tone as it started to get ripped out of form and in the midst of this chaos was Kylo, still screaming in open panic.

The General was trying in earnest now to hold the dark-haired slave down. What seemed easy before looked like an unbelievable feat of strength this time around and the other two men rushed to help.  
I went over to the two cowering slaves and stepped over them protectively, the girl was crying again, the boy glancing over to Kylo in a way that I could best describe as fearful awe.  
I looked at the men again. One of them went over to a rattling cabinet, fishing out a large syringe and running to his friends again, who struggled with holding the panicking slave’s tall form. They were quick to stretch one of his arms out and inject him. From then on it took mere seconds and the rattling stopped, all flying objects crashing to the floor at once.

It was eerily quiet once again. There was only the panting of the men and the muffled crying from the girl, Kylo’s sobbing had disappeared from thin air.  
I got up and went to the group on the bed. “Is everyone all right?” I asked in a cold voice and the three of them nodded. “Yeah, I think so, but we better get one of the nurses for this one.” One of the nameless men said, waving his hand in the face of the barely conscious slave. Kylo’s breathing appeared shallow to me and he was listlessly staring straight ahead, he looked even paler than I remembered, tears still streaking his hollow cheeks. 

“What was that?” I asked them seriously as they started to get dressed, finally sure that the ordeal was over.  
“Oh, you didn’t know? This one’s name is Kylo Ren. The Knights of Ren, a title you should most definitely don’t take to serious, are the empires most prized slaves. Kylo here is Lord Snoke’s absolute favourite though, the other six live with different lords as it would be to dangerous to keep them all at the same place.” General Sola was the one to start an explanation for the events of the last few minutes as one of the other men picked up his commlink to inform the medical wing of the tower. They had to come and take care of the two injured slaves.  
“You ever heard of the force, boy?” he asked me in a snappish tone, that I ignored professionally and gave a simple nod instead. “Good, because all the knights of Ren are users of the force. The empire has seven of them, as I already told you, that is about ten percent of all remaining specimen. They can be used as powerful weapons, but honestly, their powers are too dangerous, so we suppress them. Usually different stones and metals built in their collars are enough, but strong emotions can trigger the connection to grow stronger as well, then we have to chemically suppress that strength. It’s what you witnessed just now. And this one is the strongest of them all, I assure you, that’s why it’s so much fun fucking him like a bitch, makes you feel so fucking powerful, I swear!”

While General Sola was using rather vulgar language, patting the slave’s thigh as if he were a prized racing horse or something of the sort and laughing like a maniac I finally understood, now it was perfectly clear, all questions I’ve carried with me for ten years were answered.  
All I could do was smile and nod.  
There was absolutely nothing funny about this situation, but I knew, without a doubt that General Sola would be one of the first man, living in this rotten empire, that I would stab in the back and bring to an end with my own hands, so that he would regret the horrible things he had done in his lifetime.

Kylo was born with a connection to the force and that was the only reason he was doomed to live this miserable life. I was determined to change that once and for all.

“Thank you for your explanation Sir, but could I ask another favour of you? As you know, I have been promoted General very recently, and I still plan on taking my gift from Lord Snoke. I am here so he could verify my plans, but I think it better if you had a look at them as well. I’m sure you have some tips, back from your experiences with your own gift. Would you like to discuss this upstairs with some drinks perhaps?”

It was easy to fake admiration and a smile. I was brownnosing on purpose, I just knew that Sola was the kind of man that would love it, that liked to boast with his conquests, be it in bed or war. His vulgar language just gave him away so easily.  
And for sure, he was agreeing with a pridefully raised chest within seconds, praising me for my will to learn from the old masters. Tch, as if that scum was a master in anything, but my smile stayed in place in a practiced manner.

That’s when three nurses and a med droid rushed in and went directly to the slaves. They looked calm and gentle, I felt relieved when they reached out to Kylo. They would take care of the poor slave, and the hurt woman to. I hoped at least the blond one was okay, but for now, my job was a different one.

I sent a remorseful glance over my shoulder towards Kylo, who still looked totally absent and went with the General and his men. Apparently they were two of his officers. I would send the resistance their names, but first we would sit in the bar and I would coax all of their dirty secrets out of the general while he was drunk and talking about conquering and enslaving his planet like an absolute idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in two days because Christmas is really stressful for me, tons of work, so I don't know when I'll be able to post again. Wish me luck xD


	7. Reaching out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the smallest bit of comfort ever wrote I guess?? xD and my last pre-written chapter sadly

My suspicions about General Sola were absolutely right. He wasn’t just a scumbag, but he liked to brag as well and when you left cruel war strategies out of the equation, he seemed pretty stupid as well. First and foremost, he had no regrets about what he had done. Not about the souls he slaughtered out on the battlefields and neither of the people he had enslaved. He told me about the prettiest young woman on his conquered planet, about how he had put a collar on her himself and he told me about how he had killed her after she was used up. Slaves weren’t better than cattle in his eyes, when their time was up, he killed them mercilessly.

His planet had once been beautiful, full of small farming villages, now it was in ruins. Sola decided to stay living on one of Snoke’s capital planets, so he and his men destroyed everything that was not of use to them and took everything else with them. They had eradicated a whole culture. He does not have a conscience, not even a single shred a human decency resided in this General.

But I soaked everything he told me up like a sponge, copied some of the documents, took notes so I wouldn’t forget a single thing until this information would reach the resistance. I smiled in the man’s aged face and refilled his glass like an old friend while Sola doomed himself with his overly proud words and horribly accurate descriptions of thousands of ruined lives. I left him with the knowledge, that nothing could save that man, there would be nowhere left to run when his stories spread through our empire and it was a deep satisfaction, I hadn’t felt in a long time carrying me to my quarters.

It had been a long and very eventful day for me. My plans were moving forward faster than I had anticipated, and that was very good, on the other hand there was Kylo. I was very worried for him, as well as his two fellow slaves I had met today. The force was a dangerous power and not just for its enemies, but for the users as well. The slaves always had their powers suppressed, they never got a chance to learn control of it. If a day came where the Lord classified his strength as too much of a danger, Kylo would be put down like a rabid animal, not to mention that he could hurt himself gravely. A lot of slaves with a connection to the force lost all sanity in captivity and what I had seen today was pretty close to that already. His desperate screaming and crying reverberated on the inside of my skull and the images of his fragile, thrashing body would probably haunt me till the end of my life. And these were only the thoughts of an outsider, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hurt Kylo had to feel about all this, how hopeless his life felt inside this tower.

I remembered how the boy had once told me, sitting under the large oak tree in my family estate garden, hidden safely beneath the low hanging branches how he felt connected to every living thing when outside, how he felt alive in the sun. Back then I didn’t quite understand but now I knew, it was his connection to the force flaring like a beckon of hope and I asked myself, did he even feel anything inside of this tower? Didn’t the thick stone and hard metal and the unending ocean just outside muffle anything for the sense he had been born with? Then his only connection were the other slaves in here, suffering in silence, just like him, without getting a glimpse at the sun ever again.

There was only one wish burning inside of my chest at the moment. I wanted to give Kylo his hope back. At the party I just walked away, without even acknowledging his burning stare, without really meeting his eyes. I couldn’t do that again, I had to see him, I had to tell him that even after all these years I was still on his side.

I called a slave to my room and ordered something to eat. She was back fast and wanted to leave just as quickly again, but I held her back carefully.  
“Can you tell me where I’ll find the medical wing in this tower?” I asked her an she looked concerned. “Do you need assistance Sir? Should I call someone for you?” she asked frantically and I shook my head with a soothing smile creeping on my lips. “No, I’m alright, I just wish to see someone who has been hurt today.” I explained the situation and she directed me to one of the deeper underground levels. The quiet there is supposed to be good for the patients, but I guessed that it was usually slaves inhabiting the beds there. Snoke kept them underground on purpose.  
I thanked the girl earnestly and handed her a small credit unit, just as I had done the last time. She gave a deep bow and disappeared. I hoped talk of this would get about the other slaves, they needed to understand that I had a soft spot for them without anyone else noticing. Credits, soft smiles and polite behaviour are key to that. Most slaves were not allowed to hold on to credits or any other kind of money, they wouldn’t tell anybody about this and hopefully they would form some kind of trust eventually.

I ate in silence and watched the sun go down. The numbers on my pad told me it was only about four o’clock in the evening, but smaller planets had shorter days and my own inner timeline was more accustomed to intergalactic time anyways. When I was finished, I took the elevator underground once again, even deeper than before. When the doors opened this time, I was greeted by sterile metallic floors and white tiled walls, clearly a medical unit then.  
Some droids were passing through the corridors silently and I wandered for a while until I met a nurse. She looked to be about her mid-thirties, but grey hairs had already spread through the long black curls atop her head. I understood only all too well, this job had to be taxing. She wasn’t a slave, but she gave a deep bow nonetheless. I indicated my head slightly in return.

“Hello mam, my name is General Hux. I was involved in the incident today and would like to see the injured slaves if possible?” I introduced myself politely and stated my reason for being down here in the first place in the hope to relax her a bit. My sudden appearance made her look tense and uneasy, but I wasn’t here to harm anyone.  
“Of course General Hux, if you were to follow me?” She said and I did. Only a few turns farther she opened a door for me and inside stood two beds. On the one closer to the door laid the girl. Her face was black and blue, her arms not faring any better, one of her legs wrapped in a cast, but she was awake and looking at me with scared, tear-filled eyes. Then there was the blond-haired boy, he was holding onto her hand and standing in between us protectively as soon as he recognized me and on the other bed, pushed against the far wall laid Kylo. I gulped down some spit that was gathering nauseatingly underneath my tongue. What if he was scared of me, what if he panics like he had with the general?

I pushed my concerns down and asked the nurse something instead. “How is their condition?”  
“Isabella is stable, she has some deep tissue bruises and some sprained muscles but luckily nothing fractured. She will make a full recovery and none of the scrapes will leave scars. Nics was unharmed thankfully, and Kylo…” I was happy that the girl would be fine, ugly scars probably meant the end for most of the slaves here and the boy hadn’t been hurt, that was great, but what really interested me was Kylo’s condition, as mean as that sounds. My impatient stare seemed to give me away and the nurse continued her unsure sentence.  
“He is technically fine, there were no injuries to his body, but an injection like this always leaves him weak. All we can do is give him some nutrients and let him sleep it off in peace.” I nodded thoughtfully. “Is he awake?” “I think so, but he’s not always responsive even though our data says he’s fully conscious. The force is beyond our understanding most of the times.” Again, I nodded silently and motioned for her to close the door. I stepped closer to the two slaves huddled together. They were trembling in my presence, the girl had tears streaking down her swollen face again.

“I’m sorry today happened like this. I wish I could have done more to protect you from harm.” I said and bowed deep, so deep as if I were before the great Lord Snoke himself. Two big pairs of round eyes were staring at me as if I had sprouted a second head when I straightened myself again and I guesses the nurse behind me was looking about the same.  
I passed the first bed and went over to Kylo. The boy, Nics if remembered correctly sprinted after me and I felt his small hand grasp my arm in a desperate manner. “Don’t hurt him, please Sir, it was not his fault.” He pleaded with me again and this time it wasn’t just his eyes, but his nervous voice as well. I felt his tremble in my own limbs and searched his eyes. They had a washed-out blue colour, reminding me of the ocean outside, while meeting my own, similar iris, only that mine were closer to green than blue. We looked rather similar if I thought about it, with my ginger hair, the pale skin and the freckles. I gave him a calming smile.  
“I’m not here to hurt or punish anyone. I would never be able to bring harm to Kylo anyway.” I told in a voice I hadn’t even known existed until now. If I searched my mind for a description I only came up with loving, but that wasn’t a word I would ever use out loud.

I pushed the slave’s hands of me in a careful way, that would ensure I didn’t hurt him in any way and made the last steps up to the bed that held Kylo’s prone form. His arms were cuffed to the metal railings of the bed, his hair and face a mess, there were needles in his scared arms, nestled in between old track marks. His body was only covered by a flimsy hospital gown that seemed to small on him even though I could clearly see most of his fine bones shining through. His eyes were the absolute worst part of his miserable appearance though. They were the same like when I found him, still in an eleven year old, small body, huddled in a blanket and staring into space after my father raped the boy. His dark eyes were empty of all emotions, unseeing.

My body sat itself down on the edge of the bed cautious of the others limbs, Nics was still hovering next to me, as if he would at least try and protect the other slave. It was an honourable feat, but not of need right now. I pushed some of the dark, tangled locks out of the face I had searched for so long and wiped away tear tracks until dark eyes final met my own. “Hux, are you really here?” asked the voice, so hoarse this time I barely caught it.  
“Yes, it’s really me. Can you feel me?” I said in return and placed my hand in his own now. I wasn’t sure if he was able to build any kind of connection with the chemicals knocking him out so much, but if he could feel me, he would not doubt that my presence was real, even if hallucinations or the like were a common occurrence for him. The force would not lie to him.  
Kylo closed his eyes, but not in sleep, in concentration. Tears fell again and he gave a tentative nod. “You’re real.” He sighed softly and his face relaxed. He looked more at peace, more like the boy I once knew like this. “I am.” I assured with a smile.

“I know it took me a long time to get here, but it won’t take much longer now, until I can show you a real forest my friend. You should rest now.” I told the slave softly and watched his eyes drift close again. His breathing got deeper, he was fast asleep and I turned to the rest of the room again.

“How did you do that? Usually nobody can calm him down for weeks after an episode like this.” Nics said with pure astonishment in his voice. “We’ve met a lifetime ago. I was able to calm him as a child and things luckily haven’t changed all that much between us, even though he went through hell in the meantime.” I answered fondly and looked to the nurse. She could be a problem if she told anyone about this, but she seemed trustworthy to me. Like she still cared about the hurt slaves she had to treat in this place and people like that were important. Next to the slaves themselves, people like her would be the first to choose our side over the empire.

“How can we thank you, Sir? You’ve done so much for us.” The girl from the bed said and I waved a hand in her direction passively. “Hux is fine as long no one is around and there’s no need to thank me. I’m just trying to do what’s right, because this, the treatment of slaves is just wrong. If you really want to help me, I’ll take some photos around here. Evidence of how bad the situation is. Just keep your eyes and ears open, if you catch on to something contact me when I’m around, but don’t do anything dangerous because of this.” I explained to them and turned myself to the nurse. “Don’t you think the same as me?”

After a while she nodded. “Of course I think it’s wrong, I see what they do to the slaves! But what can I do except for patching them up?”  
“Take photos of the injuries for me. And don’t forget their faces, people need to understand that slaves aren’t things, but human. Remember their suffering and their deaths. Small steps of everyone will lead to a big change if we work together.” I said in a determined tone, that left no room for questions. 

“Do you always take care of other slaves Nics?” I asked the boy after my short speech and he suddenly looked unsure of himself. “Um, a little… The masters like my face, so they don’t hurt me a lot, but Kylo is… Lord Snoke uses him a lot, he is hurt a lot and the force stuff, you know? He connects with us, he just knows how we feel, how to comfort us, but there has never been anyone that understood what’s going on inside of him, no one to make him feel better. Sometimes he loses control like this and we feel his pain, it’s horrible and sad. I just try to be there for him.” It came rushing out of the boy and he glimpsed back at the dark-haired slave, sleeping soundly for the first time in probably forever.  
“That is very nice of you. I’ll be indebted to you for the rest of my life and I know it’s a harsh burden, but would you keep him safe for me a little longer?” I asked of the boy and he looked absolutely spooked, but nodded mutely.

“Are you with the resistance?” the girl asked suddenly and I put my index finger to my lips in a clear gesture of silence. “I am, but for now I’ll play the role of a General for a while longer. We have a plan, but for it to work things said in this room, can never leave it, understood?” I said to them all, in a tone that truly befit a General.

There were mumbles of “Yes Sir” and small nods throughout the room and I turned rapidly, opening the door and leaving three baffled people and one peacefully dozing Kylo Ren behind. I knew my sleep tonight would be uneasy, memories of my father and dreams of General Sola forcefully raping Kylo’s diminished body haunting my mind, Snoke’s disgusting voice calling from the shadows, foreseeing my failure.  
But there was no way I would let my fears stop me. Tomorrow was going to be another day I had to use wisely in order to make my plans become reality. I still had a big part of the tower to search in the time Snoke was looking over those fake plans.


	8. The beginning of a war

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess I'm back? x'D  
> I'm not too happy with the chapter, but I really wanted to post something. Just view it as a build-up for the next chapters `^^

Over the next few days I formed myself a routine of sorts. I always ate in my quarters and sent a short message to Phasma, the secret channels Mitaka installed for us were definitely the work of a genius. Then I wandered the tower. Beneath the infirmary followed three empty levels, they were probably decoy, to make anyone like myself who was snooping around think nothing of interest would come deeper down. But I was too well versed in strategies like that, I just knew for a fact there had to be more.

And I was right to follow that feeling, because what I discovered next were most definitely Snoke’s personal rooms. It was simply too extravagant and hidden to be quarters made for more guests, and really dark. Well of course not meaning lighting, that was well, but in taste.  
Some of the rooms brought the thought of torture chambers to mind and I asked myself how many slaves had already found their end right here. I had trouble to swallow the anxiety those rooms triggered, the feelings were so oppressing, but I had to keep calm. I needed all my concentration on my surroundings, Snoke could under no circumstances find me down here.

I was lucky, the man was probably up in his bureau, so my snooping stayed without consequences.

Another thing that made the breath stutter in my chest when I was in the rooms of the supreme leader were the books. Paper was made obsolete by our modern technology, so books were something extremely rare and probably really old as well, and Snoke had hidden an entire library down here!  
I thumbed the cracked spines carefully, there was dust and dirt, but it only empathised their unimaginable worth. Some were written in languages I had never even seen before, others held titles that made absolutely no sense to me, but there was one reoccurring theme I could make out. The force. It seemed Snoke was completely obsessed with these banned powers and had collected anything that related to the theme. It also explained his fixation on Kylo.

As soon as I could take my eyes away from the horrors and wonders that were stashed in those rooms I went further down and finally discovered what I had been looking for all along. The computer servers that connected this tower to the rest of Snoke’s empire and his whole fleet. These were obviously not the main servers, they are highly protected, placed in the core of our main branch, completely out of reach for anyone who was not a technician. Absolutely no one held access to those computers, I didn’t doubt even the Lord himself couldn’t simply walk in there without any trouble.

So my best bet were the servers in this tower instead. There was no real protection down here, Snoke had probably thought the location was already safe enough, hidden completely. Positioning guards would do more harm than good, I understood that thought well enough and I could use it for myself now.  
I sat myself down for hours and went through the data as fast as I could, sending everything I thought of as useful up to the Finalizer and to the resistance. There were documentations of strategies for future battels, our next targets, plans against the resistance, blueprints for new weapons, accounts of the empire’s money and trade business, the data seemed unending!

There was also information about Snoke’s personal expenses, and really, most of it went into his obscene tastes in art and whatever and of course to the slaves. Maintenance costs looked suspiciously high. They had to be fed, clad and tended, there was bribe money and medical bills, and all of that money for the simple fun of the Lord. Those numbers were really important to our cause, so I sent them to Leia and Han personally instead of just their base. In combination with the photos I could hopefully collect here to document their horrible circumstances, these numbers would be the downfall of Snoke and the beginning of freedom for slaves.

After that I went up to medical to visit Kylo and his fellow slaves. Isabella was healing nicely and Nics was there a lot to give her some company. I spoke to the nurse again, she introduced me to some of her colleagues that would help as well. But most important to me was the time I spent with Kylo, it reminded me so much of the last time I spent sitting next to his sickbed in our childhood. Just like back then he was weak and looked gaunt. I held his cold, spindly hand in my own and asked myself what a lifetime of malnourishment did to the body and mind. His meagre diet was probably a way to control his powers, but it also seemed overly cruel when his massive collar and the drugs did so much damage already. Really, it was amazing that this treatment hadn’t stunted his growth as well.

He was asleep most of the time but even when he was awake, he didn’t talk much. I understood his insecurity all too well, after a decade without even seeing me his trust was damaged greatly, it would take time, we were not children anymore after all. But I told him of my plans, of my work with the resistance, that I had not forgotten his dream and that I was giving my all to make it come true. To make it come true for all slaves.

When I came to visit on the third day Isabella was alone, the bed by the wall was empty and pristine as if there had never been anyone sleeping before. I didn’t even need to ask before the girl told me that Snoke had come to collect Kylo and Nics, their time to rest was over, they had to work. Work, what and absurd word for selling one’s body and mind against their own will, I snorted derisively and wished her well before leaving.

General Sola and his men left on the next day, but he had left me with all the information I needed for his personal downfall. Honestly, I hoped I never had to see the man again, the only expectation being his trial and, or his execution.

I went to visit Snoke again, to collect my plans and his opinion on them. He had few points to criticise and praised my fast work. I told him it would still take a while for the plans to be completed and carried out in reality to gain some time without giving away that I held no intention to take such actions.  
After that I left that damned planet behind quickly, even when I felt a twinge in my chest. I had left Kylo again, without saying goodbye and I really hoped it would not take long anymore to the day I did not need to leave him but could take him with me instead.

Not seeing each other before parting ways apparently was a bad omen for both of us. The next two months were an abundance of secret planning and meetings for me, a big façade while I also had to uphold a mission for Snoke’s empire. I was overseeing construction for one of the most powerful weapons ever made. Starkiller base was a small planet with an unstable core that built up enough energy to pulverize several planets bigger than itself and we would use said energy for exactly that, just without destroying the base itself. An amazing feat by our scientists, but a really deadly one, so I threw in as many wrenches as I could.

In the meantime, the resistance set to work. Leia travelled to the empires surrounding ours and explained the situation. Starkiller base was a weapon that was equally dangerous for all of them but to gigantic and secure for a single nation to beat. She offered to unite and lead them in battle if they were willing to discuss about peace and the end of slavery afterwards.

Most of them probably weren’t exactly thrilled, but the fear of Snoke and his planet sized weapon was bigger than the old resentments against the resistance or unwillingness to change, and of course the general’s talent for hard negotiations was always playing in her favour.

Han and Luke were doing the same within our empire, visiting old friends and enemies alike, whoever they would be able to sway to our side. There were honest people who were simply appalled by the cruelties Snoke dealt out and scum who saw their own gain in the emperor’s downfall, but their reasoning was never important, their help was enough.

That was all well and good, but it took a lot of time. More so than I was comfortable with. Horrible thoughts about what was possibly happening to Kylo plagued me and I was once again unable to sleep more than a few hours a day.  
Things were slowly coming to a head on Starkiller base. I couldn’t delay it’s completement any longer or I would blow Phasma’s and my cover, as well as Finn and Rey who were with us, so Han and Chewbacca readied themselves for backing us up while the rest of our newfound fleet assembled.

But luck was not on our side. The mission went sideways pretty fast, it seemed like Snoke already knew of the rebellion’s plans and intercepted most of their ships, killing a lot of our new allies on his way. But the Supremacy was without her usual commander. Lord Snoke was instead visiting Starkiller base and watched five planets burn with glee in his eyes and a shivering Kylo on his arm, like the man was some expensive jewellery he just had to show off.

Even though the slave was wearing a long, black coat that brushed the snow-covered earth, with the sleeves falling past his hands, I could see he was not well. Out in the light his complexion looked to be grey, his hair was matted und there were visible knots nestled in and as the planets blew up, he was simply staring at the little puffs of warm air leaving his lungs in uneven breaths.

I wanted nothing more than to rip him out of the claws of this monster next to him, but before I could save one single slave, I needed to save whole planets. Even though it left me feeling horrible I turned my back once again.  
Our small team met up with Han und Chewie and we went on our way to destroy the Starkiller from within. Luckily, I was quite familiar with the base and it’s weaknesses now, so that wasn’t exactly the problem. The real problem was getting out of this alive. The more or less peaceful life under the guise of a general would be left behind once and for all.

The sabotaging went well enough, the core of the planet was so unstable already that it was easy to get it to destroy itself, that would have been the natural course for it if the empire hadn’t interfered and decided that this power would be useful. But on our escape route we were once again eye to eye with Snoke and of course Kylo.

The earth beneath us was rumbling dangerously, the metal stabilisations of the base screeching in agony at the powerful shakes they had to withstand, it wouldn’t take long for the building to fail and shortly after the planet would rip itself apart. No one wanted to be here anymore when that happened so everyone was trying to flee, even the great Lord knew that it was time to back up it seemed. And out of all the possibilities our groups just had to cross paths.

Han stopped abruptly in the middle of the narrow walkway, Rey running straight into his back and nearly falling off if it weren’t for Finn’s fast reaction in catching her. The older man and the Wookie exchanged disbelieving gazes before they turned back to us and told us to go ahead without them. I was confused but not strictly against it, but I was outnumbered as Rey and Finn made no move to leave them behind.

“Ben!” the man than shouted and finally Kylo’s eyes weren’t just staring into thin air anymore, but focused laser sharp on the greying man before me. “Ben, your Ben, right?! Please son, you need to come with us, you can run away, you’re stronger than him, come home!” Han was pleading with the slave, tears streaming down his face.

I really tried to comprehend what was happening, but I just didn’t get it. Ben? His name was Kylo Ren tough, at least he told me it was the only name he could remember. And Han’s son? Neither Leia nor Han or anybody else had ever mentioned a son, could it really be?  
But the way the slave reacted was telling. He stared at the man and the Wookie by his side with wide, searching eyes, clinging to the railing that was separating him from the gap between us.

Then a shot rang out and Han fell. The walkway was to narrow to even catch his body, instead the man disappeared into the abyss beneath our feet. He was probably dead on impact, but the view of Rey and Chewie trying to reach for him was still a painful one, even if I had no real connection with the mercenary, he was always a good man, that had welcomed me with open arms where many had been prejudiced.

Chewbacca’s and Kylo’s pained screaming mixed and echoed from the metal walls, my eyes were met with a dark stare from across the other bridge before things got hectic again.  
Rey and Finn were pulling the Wookie with them forcefully and the girl was screaming at the slave as well. “Ben, run!” And he did, we did, for a moment it really seemed like at least the rest of us would make it out, but the guards and Snoke were on our back, ready to pounce.

Kylo was weak, even with his long legs he had fallen behind, so he was the first to go down. A shot right through his middle made him topple into the snow, smearing everything in his wake red. I slowed to go back, but Phasma, always at my back pushed me forwards and then turned herself around to help the slave, she knew was so important to me. Sadly she was the next to fall, as soon as she was in range the Lord’s guards ripped into her like animals. Before I knew it, Finn was pulling me up the ramp of the Millennium Falcon.

Not long after we jumped into hyperspace, leaving the Starkiller base behind to explode into thousand pieces, as well as three comrades. Han was dead, I had no idea what had happened to Phasma, my oldest friend and of course there was also Kylo. Or Ben… I didn’t even want to imagine what would be done to him now, we needed to rescue him before it’s to late! But first I had a lot of questions, especially about Han, Leia and Ben. Good that we would meet up with the rest of the rebellion anyways. The war was not lost, it had only just begun and I would not surrender ever again…


	9. Fate or the force, it doesn't matter anyways

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A rather short chapter, but it will definitely lead up to something big ;) It's mostly dialog, or rather monolog, but whatever, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless ^^'

Our journey was very quiet. Definitely not the comforting silence that brought tranquillity to your mind, but the sort of oppressing calm before the storm. There was the loss of Han weighing everyone down, especially his best friend, the Wookie was distant and hid himself in the machinery of the old ship. But Finn and Rey hurt as well, also with the thought of explaining this, the death of her husband, to the General.

Then there was Kylo, or Ben, whatever his real name was now. The questions surrounding him made my stomach churn uncomfortably, were Han and Leia really his family? That certainly was a very big story to tell, but most important and heavy was that he was violently shot and bleeding that last time we saw him, before he got dragged back to that retched man that called himself the supreme Leader. The slave had rebelled against his master, the punishment would be sever, I was sure of that, my mind back on the uncountable scars littering his pale body already.

And of course, Phasma… She had been my best and well, really my only friend for years, now I didn’t even know if she was still alive. Unlike Kylo she wasn’t of any real value to Snoke, maybe he just left her on the dying planet, but honestly, with the ideas I got what he would probably do to her if she was still with us death didn’t sound so bad. But I am an egoistic being, I hoped and prayed with all my might that the both of them were still breathing, that I would not be too late in my attempt to rescue them.

There was also the fact that the empire had countered our first attack very well. In fact, it looked like we were about to lose right after this first battle, but I was sure we still had a chance and the General would no doubt agree with me.  
We just needed to regroup, to form new tactics and slowly pull the people of the empire away from Lord Snoke and on our side.

The resistance was already working on that point furiously. All the data we gathered was dumped on the public, all the horrible pictures of slaves and their injuries, all the planets left in ruins after a General was so generously gifted in secret, the numbers of how much money Snoke put in his own pocket instead of using it for his people, the decadency the rich of this empire lived in versus the shocking state of the poor.  
Something needed to change and we would get the people to understand that, then they would join our fight out of their own free will. A concept Snoke never really understood with all his warmongering, the money and the slavery.

None of us were gravely injured, only a few scraped knees and ripped skin, everyone took care of themselves. Rey had taken over steering the old ship, but at first we were without a destination. Where was the resistance hiding out? Finn was trying to find out via the different hidden commways Han Solo had used. That left me and the Wookie, both of us sulking in silence, even if I would not repeat that thought out loud.

In the end it wasn’t Finn that lead our way to the current base, a large planet constantly surrounded by thick clouds and completely covered in ice, but Poe who intercepted us and guided our ship to a gigantic riff in a glacier.

Many different ships had found their way here already, the underground tunnels were filled with life, but the cold was biting. At least I still had my greatcoat, even if it made me stand out like a sore thumb around here.

Because we couldn’t really use much heat if we didn’t want to risk the glacier collapsing right on our heads, all meetings were held inside the large ships, and that was where we finally met Leia Solo and her brother again.  
Rey quickly went to hug her master and then glanced at the General with tears in her eyes.

I knew she was about to take on the burden of retelling the events on Starkiller to her, but I quickly stepped in front of the girl und bowed deep, deeper than I ever had before Snoke.  
“I am very sorry to tell that your husband has fallen in combat Sir.”  
I straightened myself again and looked her right in the eyes, the colour darkened with grief, I could tell.  
“My first man, Commander Phasma was left behind as well, we do not know her whereabouts, I fear. Starkiller base was completely destroyed as you probably already knew, Supreme Leader Snoke was also last seen there. Of course I’d like to know all about the battle on your side but first you need to excuse my insubordinance, but I would like to ask a personal question in regard of your, and your late husband’s relation to a certain slave.”

The grief in the dark eyes of the General shifted first to confusion and then very visibly to shock, an expression that probably hadn’t resided in the stern face of the usually so composed woman for a very long time.

Everyone that was not immediately needed or a part of the inner circle I would probably call a family for lack of better wording, because their relationships did not seem strictly professional to me, was ushered out of the conference room. This was a private story then, only Luke, Leia, Rey, Poe, Chewie and Finn were left behind.

“Please sit down General Hux, this is a long story indeed, at least when I assume that you are talking about Ben?”  
She spoke in an almost motherly tone, but also looked utterly exhausted while doing so. I followed the instruction and inclined my head. “I think at the moment you are the only General here, Sir, there is no title to my name no more, and honestly, I’m glad about it.” I smiled at her encouragingly, something my face was definitely not used to just yet.

She sighed, nodded und looked at her brother before she began to speak.  
“Before you need to ask, yes, Ben is really Han and my son.”  
Now that I thought about it, I recognized that father and son looked alike very much actually.

“Not many people know anymore, but I was born a slave. Me and Luke were twins, but we got separated and ripped from our family at birth. Our mother died before either of us got the chance to meet her. Our father was a very priced slave though, Anakin Skywalker was one of the few remaining descendants of the Sith and quite powerful, to powerful honestly. They could never fully control him, captivity cost him his mind and his masters got increasingly crueller in their methods to subdue him.  
When Luke first met him as a teenager, he already lost an arm, shortly after they took his legs and when he was still too strong to handle, half his lung. Luke lived with the same gruesome master because he has the force with him as well.  
I was a working slave, out in the cornfields, boring, but safe. I got back to the master of my father and brother when Anakin was finally on his deathbed and Luke was getting increasingly difficult. Before it got out of hand, like our father, a deal was made. Luke’s compliance against my safety.

We lived like that for a long time. Then they took Luke’s hand in spite of our deal und tried to sell us for a high price. Back then it sounded horrible, but now I know it was the best thing that could’ve happened to us. We were not bought, but stolen by a handsome young man. He set us free and we decided to return to his side in spite of this.  
His name was Han Solo and he showed us the galaxy. He gifted me with a beautiful little boy, we named him Ben. But Ben also had a side I did not expect, and that was a connection to the force so strong it by far surpassed my brother, even at a young age.

It was already dangerous to travel with one force sensitive being, we were constantly hunted, but with Ben… His power was like a beacon flaring across the universe, we were always on the run and still. They took him away. My little baby, they took him from me when he was only seven years old and we never saw him again. We searched everywhere, I promised I would find him when he was ripped out of my arms, but he was nowhere to be found.

Since we first heard of the Knights of Ren, we had our suspicions. They are rumoured to be the strongest force users alive, and Ben was so strong, he just had to be one of them. He couldn’t be dead, I would feel it if my child had died, but to think that Snoke, that bastard had him for fifteen long years now is so horrible! We will bring him to his knees for what he did! I will finally hold my baby again and if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do that is fine by me.”

I let the General talk. Sometimes you just need to get it of your chest, and the hatred, the devotion in her voice were so very clear that I could only nod in silence at first. I was stunned to hear such emotional words out of the fierce woman’s mouth, she seemed cool and collected on every occasion, but I understood perfectly well that her composure failed her. I myself was known as cold and uncaring, but when I talked to Phasma about my mother or Kylo I sounded just as desperate to finally talk as Leia had just now.

“Thank you a lot for telling me this General Solo. I am very sorry for your loss, not just for your husband, but for your child as well. I will promise that you have all my might on your side when it comes to bringing Kylo back.” I explained and earned a few weird stares from to group.

“Kylo? Is that what the Supreme Leader calls Ben?” It was Rey that asked and I nodded while closing my eyes. I couldn’t stop to small sigh from my lips, but it seemed like I had to tell them a few stories of the past as well.

“Yes, Kylo Ren, as in the Knights of Ren. They are keeping them apart out of fear what their combined powers could do. Actually, I have met Kylo at a very young age as well. I was eleven, just as old as him and we built us a weird sort of friendship. I witnessed his abuse even back then and could never forget him afterwards. He, and my mother, who was a slave before she was murdered, were my motivation for bringing an end to slavery, indirectly leading me to the resistance. Fate has very unforeseeable ways I guess.”

“The force, it’s not fate, it’s the force. It will lead us back to a brighter future and harmony.” Rey piped up while Luke gave an amused shake of his head. It reminded me of a dog with floppy ears, honestly, it looked funny. “Ah, so you’re one of those weird force users as well?” I asked the girl and she nodded enthusiastically.  
“Yes, I felt an instant connection to Ben, it was especially strong today! If it weren’t for the horrible abuse he’s suffering he would have snuffed Snoke out like a candle already, and that old man knows it. We need to get him out!” she exclaimed and I could only laugh.

“You’re a weird group you know? But yes, I agree, you’re right Rey. We need to get him out and we need to kill Snoke on our way. Then we’ll see about all that force stuff and brighter future talk I guess.”  
All of them agreed instantly and we set to planning our attack. We were sure that right now, Snoke was crawling back to his tower and that was where we’d end him and his regime once and for all.


	10. The Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Switzerland is in lockdown for at least three weeks and as a florist I can't work at home so I have a lot of time on my hands now xD Where do you live and how's the situation for you? Feels kind of weird but don't forget that you're safe, don't be scared!

We were fighting a war. It was hard and there were many losses, but in the end, we were sure we’d win and that was our biggest motivation, right next to the personal vendetta against Snoke of course. 

Leia’s way of grieving the death of her husband and the hurt of her child was to bury herself in work without brakes for even sleep or food. It was horribly unhealthy to do so, but I could relate as I had trouble to keep myself from doing exactly the same.  
She was leading all the aircrafts and spaceships in battle, hunching over holo screens containing star systems and battle movements, giving orders via comm while keeping track of all the different planets of the empire for a change. There were already planets that changed sides, people who were shocked by the dirty secrets their seemingly great leader had hidden away.  
It wasn’t looking too bad on that front anymore, even after our rough start.

Chewbacca was frantically tinkering with the Millennium Falcon to take his thoughts of his loss. He was getting the old ship back to her best form and even building new weapons for our attack on the tower.  
Everybody wanted to come, but the General had to stay here as our leader. It was probably for the better.

Luke and Rey were acting a little weird. I watched their training in the small brakes from my own work, and while I was kind of impressed, I was also highly confused. The force was just something I had trouble to grasp as a concept.  
They floated big chunks of ice in the air between them and meditated, their lips moving as if speaking, but no sound coming out. They were also building something, handles of some sort?  
I had only ever heard about these things in stories, legends from before the great war, but as Luke ignited the first one, I knew instantly that they were lightsabres. They were impressive, humming with power, three in number, two blue, one red. They had built the red one for Kylo, I just knew…

Poe, Finn and I were planning our attack on the tower in every other waking moment. As predicted Snoke had hidden himself there and heavily guarded the small planet, there was a whole fleet of Star Destroyers surrounding it, not to mention the Supremacy.

My own ship, the Finalizer was gone. Good Mitaka had started a riot. There was no winner, he was probably dead, but at least one of the strongest ships the empire had to offer was out of commission and would no longer fight us.

The preparations took us about a week until we were finally able to launch our attack. We stocked up on weapons, ammunition and medical supplies and Poe lifted the Millennium Falcon up in the air for us, taking course to Krima, that small miserable rock.

The Falcon was a small ship, it went unnoticed in the midst of battle, and she was fast, thanks to Chewie and his hard work, and Poe as one of the best pilots out there. And we were a ragtag troop, but also elite fighters. While the large battleships cleared our path for the hopefully undetected invasion of the tower, I gave commands, which wasn’t easy, as our side was not a real fleet. They had never fought side by side before and every ship was of a completely different type. But that couldn’t matter right now, this just had to work!

And it did. There were collaterals, but that was to be expected when one started a war, but we held up against the onslaught of Star Destroyers. Finally there was a path cleared for our ship. Hopefully we remained unseen, but at least we were not immediately attacked, I took that as a good sign.

As we entered the atmosphere of the small planet, we were surrounded by thick storm clouds, the perfect cover. Underneath them the ocean was whipping at the rocks furiously and the rain was once again pouring down without and end in sight. Good, so we’d not be easily spotted from within the tower.

Poe guided the ship to the large rock that held only a few small ships, as larger ones could simple not land here. A good chance that not too many troops were here then, perfect for our plan of stealth.  
Instead of landing right on top, next to the other ships without any cover the pilot flew us to a small overhang on the side. It looked stable enough and held on as we landed atop it.  
Poe would wait here as we climbed our way up, so the ship, our only chance of leaving this rock, wasn’t left unguarded.

I had told the team of the horrible weather conditions on this planet, so everyone was wrapped in a long raincoat, protecting us from being completely soaked while we climbed up the cliff. There was only one single entrance to the tower, so there was no choice but to use the literal front door for our intrusion. Not even the trash left the tower on a different way before it got thrown into the ocean without concern. Probably bodies too, now that I thought about it. It was a horrible practice, but one we would take use of as well, hopefully one last time today.

So we went for the only door there was and obviously we were expected, guns were instantly raised in our faces, but before any shots could be fired two of the six men were already cut in half. Luke had wielded the lightsabre like an expert, the weapon terrifying in his hands and death instant and soundless.  
Rey had her hands outstretched in the direction of the remaining enemy combatants, blocking them from using their blasters. It really was scary how the men could not move a muscle before being cut down by Luke. I understood now why the force was such a feared power, but I had no second thoughts. We were doing the right thing here, bloodshed was something we could not avoid, as the blood of slaves had been spilled so ruthlessly up until now.

Finn kept guarding the door while the rest of us disposed the bodies into the ocean. Surprisingly there was not a lot of blood, the metaphorical blade so hot the blood vessels got cauterized while being cut.  
As soon as we stepped over the threshold, I took lead, as the only one who had been here before, gun at the ready. The elevators were out of commission, shut down while the tower was under attack, so we had to take the stairs and hope on meeting only few guards patrolling the halls.  
I lead the group down out of instinct. We did not know Snoke’s location but our best guess were his quarters. Luxurious, but also very safe, an attack on the surface levels probably wouldn’t even shake him, deep down in the water.

The first few floors were deserted, the big dining hall and adjoining kitchen empty. There was no staff, no guards, no slaves, the silence was eerie. A little deeper down followed the quarters of the slaves, the small rooms with locked doors. Finn tried to open several of them, but they wouldn’t budge. Whimpers and stuttered breathing gave away that they were indeed not empty, the slaves were still here, unable to flee. If the tower were to be destroyed, they would all die. Something we did not want to risk, but could not actually stop either. All of us wanted to free them, but there was just not enough time. I really hoped we would find at least the medical staff still here, they would be on our side when they realized that the resistance was here, they could free the slaves for us if we disposed of the guards.  
So that was what we did when we met the first patrol, we gunned them down ruthlessly, pulling their bodies into a small side hall. This time there was a lot of spilled blood, but I could not really waste my time with regret when all my thoughts were filled with Kylo…

After the small group of guards, it was completely silent once again. I lead our team down staircase after staircase, the atmosphere was tense enough that the force users behind me could probably cut it with their new weapons.

Then we reached the club levels. That was the only name coming to my mind spontaneously with the memory of my first time in the tower. The lounge like area in the middle was still undisturbed, the bars empty this time around, the paintings and sculptures left in the dark as the lighting was dimmed without any guests. Without life the ballroom looked absolutely gigantic, our steps echoing on the dark tiles. Down here the ocean looked calm, giving a soft blue glow.

At least we thought we were alone until the first shots were fired. It was aimed directly at my own head but Rey’s blue sabre stopped the bullet in it’s path, it happened in what felt like slow motion, but afterwards things got hectic once again.  
Rey took the front, Luke the back, erecting some kind of forcefield, stopping the blasts from ripping us apart. I directed the group to the lounge, the only cover in the room as our ambushers had hidden behind the bar tables and came storming up the staircase from below.  
As soon as we reached it everybody was hiding behind furniture as best as possible, the Wookie lifting the solid lounge table effortlessly, holding it up with one arm while the other raised the gigantic bow caster from his side and fired. One of the bars collapsed with the power of the blow, shattering the glass and leaving several troopers without cover. Finn and I shot them down effectively.

We continued with this tactic until the Chewbacca’s cover shattered and the Wookie had to crouch on the floor, still easily the biggest target out of us. He howled in agony and Luke slid to his side, again protecting him with the force. Hopefully the injury wasn’t too bad, but at the moment we had no time to check.  
I felt like we were wasting time, my temper flared, I wanted to be at Kylo’s side, not face this scum in a battle of firepower! Our ammo was getting lower with every man we took down, but at least nobody else was hurt. The surviving guards retreated down the staircase, probably running right to their supreme leader. I grit my teeth and watched Luke examine the Wookie. He was lucky, only a graze to one of his big arms.

After checking our weapons, we went further down. The next few levels were absolutely deserted again, no sound at all, not even slaves. Next people who we met were not guards though. Hidden away in the infirmary was the medical staff and a few other people who looked vaguely like technicians. They were trembling in fear at our feet, at least until one woman stood up and rushed to my side. It was the nurse that had treated Isabella, Nics and Kylo after my last visit to the tower. I had never gotten her name, but the pictures she sent us were of great help in this war.

“Hux! You really came!” she exclaimed loudly and the room relaxed a little, realising we were not about to gun them all down without mercy.  
“Indeed.” I nodded with a small smile creeping to my lips. “You need to flee, it’s not safe. There shouldn’t be many guards left on your way up, but take some of the blasters you’ll find on your way, just to be safe. Are you technicians?” I asked some of the men who were most definitely not from medical. They nodded, still obviously scared of us. “Good, the slaves are locked in their quarters, get them out with you, we can’t guarantee the safety within the tower. One of our dropships will gather you up as soon as possible.” I explained and sent them all on their way. Only the one nurse remained.

“I want to come with you, just in case.” She explained and I let her, although a little reluctantly. She was just a civilian after all. In the near future it ought to be a good decision.  
Not much farther down we reached Snoke’s personal quarters. Silence still dominated the air as we wandered through and opened all the doors carefully at gunpoint, ready for another ambush.  
None came, instead we found ourselves in the rooms I could only describe as torture chambers. Even the first time here, with the knowledge that Snoke wasn’t here these rooms made my gut churn but this time... We found bodies. Actual dead bodies, slaves tortured to death out of sheer rage and madness.

And then we reached a room where a familiar shape was strung to the wall like a dead piece of meat. Without thought my weapon fell to the floor as I raced to her side and checked for a pulse carefully. “Phasma.” I muttered her name under my breath, she was still alive and actually lifted her head to meet my eyes.  
“I knew you could make it.” She grinned at me, her mouth bloody, probably missing some teeth. Her usually styled, blond hair was shorn short, matted with clumps of blood where her sculp had been cut. One of her shoulders was swollen and purple, dislocated was my guess, she was only wearing an undershirt, all visible skin black and blue, beaten to a pulp. Her arms were covered in blood, I looked for the source quickly and found two fingers , one on each hand, missing, stretched far over her head.

The Wookie and Finn were at my side, helping undoing the chains and lowering her to the floor gently, the nurse checking on her shortly. It was Finn, the tallest and broadest of us who handed her his raincoat. Still a little short on her arms, but she could do the zipper to warm her body a little.

“Chewie, you need to bring her out, she needs real medical attention.” I commanded but the Wookie protested loudly. I understood, he was just like Han’s brother, Kylo – Ben, he wanted to rescue his nephew just as much as I did. I looked on to Finn and the nurse pleadingly. ”Then you’ll have to do it, please.” I said a little desperate and got two nods in return.  
They helped the injured woman stand and I gave her a quick, careful hug. “Be safe.” I muttered before the three of them turned back upstairs.

The rest of our group went farther down.  
On the next level we were stormed by more troopers. Cover was sparse in the long hallway, some bookshelves, corners and pieces of art barely of any help, so Rey and Luke used the force for our defence once again. Our ammunition was getting kind of low, but at least Chewbacca’s bow caster was a force to be reckoned. One single shot killed several men on the spot, incapacitating even more so. With our enemy’s numbers dwindling the Wookie and I decided to hide while the two force users cut the rest of them down on their own. We just couldn’t waste all of our firepower just yet, after all we had no idea what was awaiting us when we finally found Snoke.

The two of them were very capable, it didn’t take long for the ambushers to fail, they were either left dead on the floor or passed out, no danger to us anymore, so we passed them and searched the rooms. It took forever, all the empty spaces we found making me more nervous. Was I wrong, were they up above and not down here? Was Kylo even still alive?  
Then we reached the very end of the hallway and opened the last door. The room revealed was nothing like the others. For once it was not designed in black, but in an almost blinding white colour with blood red accents intimidatingly sprinkled in. It would best be described as a throne room, without furniture except for the oversized chair right in the middle of it. And there was Kylo, bent over the hard armrest at the waist, his collared neck being pushed into the other one ruthlessly, Snoke the one holding him down, uncaring that we just intruded, as if he was waiting for us to see how he raped the man we came to save.

The slave was oddly soundless, I wondered if he was even conscious, there was only the sound of pleasure from the old leader and then his cruel laugh, he really was taking joy in the suffering of others. I wanted nothing more than to storm over and stop him, no rip out his jugular, that would be better, but in our way stood eight guards, completely clad in red and holding long staffs that gave off an intimidating, electrical whirr.

Chewbacca shot the first one down easily roaring like a wild beast in anger, surprise still on our side, but the rest of them instantly attacked like a gang of vicious dogs. The Wookie picked up the fallen staff, protecting himself and Rey threw me the red lightsabre. The weapon felt weird, unexpectedly heavy, hot and so unbelievably strong in my hands. It didn’t feel right, this was not a weapon made for my hands, but it was the only thing protecting me from being electrocuted on the spot, so I activated the blade and used it to at least block their hits. I was pretty bad at it, barely holding up against one enemy, how Rey was fighting three of them at the same time really was beyond me, I knew I couldn’t do this for long. I really was lucky to have such good fighters with me, because the guard Luke fought went down hard, not standing up again, missing a leg. He still had a second guard to fight, but was provoking the one trying to get me as well. He was distracting him and I took my chance, shooting him in the back of the head as the opportunity arose. Three guards down, five left, and the Wookie soon made the count even. Rey was the next to down one of our enemies, it really looked like we could win this and just walk out for a second and then there was a loud shot, that didn’t come from me and definitely not from the bow caster either.

Luke dropped to the floor in-between the dead guards, a heavy contrast in his long, black cloak, to the intense red of their uniform and the blood on white marble. His apprentice was at his side in an instant, looking for the wound, finding it in his lower back, probably clean through his spine. The older force user would not get back up again, Rey was sobbing as she was holding on to him.

“I’m amazed. I didn’t think you would actually make it this far.” Snoke commented from the middle of the room, still clutching the gun in one hand, the other holding onto Kylo’s face in a brutal hold. The old man at least had the decency to pull up his pants for a moment, but the slave was only in loose boxer shorts and a small singlet, the thin straps falling off on one shoulder, making his injuries visible for everyone. There were tick bandages hidden beneath the top, peaking out and ugly bruises on his legs, the worst was his face though. A long diagonal gash from his forehead ran down to his chin, continued on to the shoulder actually, effectively bisecting the pale face. The eye was crusted with blood, I had no idea if there even was an eye or if that was gone too, but the side of his face that was not ruined was currently streaked with tears, the mental anguish and bodily hurt visible even from afar. He was conscious after all and had just witnessed his uncle being shot down. And now he was being groped again, by that horrible man.

“But I’m also disappointed! You didn’t even enjoy the show poor little Ben put up for you! Well at least I think that’s the name you know him by. You are his father’s best friends after all, Ben’s uncles, that were unable to protect him as a child, did you miss him? Well he certainly didn’t have time to miss you with all the nice men keeping him company, right whore? And Hux, I’m really not all that surprised by your presence, I always knew that you were a traitor. No wonder, I have no idea why your father even kept you around!” The man’s scared face had such an ugly sneer, he looked like a creature straight from hell. The Wookie was roaring, in pain from the memories of the small child who had been ripped from Leia’s arms, and Luke gave a weak sob on the floor, feeling the same.

“I didn’t know though that you found yourself a youngling Skywalker, really surprised me there, she would be such a nice thing for my collection, don’t you think?” In the background was the sound of troops marching, reinforcements were coming, cutting us off from our route out of this tower. Snoke put the blaster on Kylo’s temple, tapping it lightly. “And now you give up. You make this whole little revolution stop or I’ll shoot him and you will follow him soon enough.” The Supreme Leader’s command was harsh and the remaining three guards surrounded our small group once again, confident in their abilities even after five of them died.

Rey took the deactivated lightsabre out of my hands and held it up meaningfully. Luke righted himself as best as he could, with his legs not working, looking straight into his nephew’s face, saying something I did not expect. “Ben, I know you’re in there. You can do it, you’re strong, this man can’t hold you against your will. This is yours, use it, break free, you can do it.”

Kylo’s body was trembling in the larger man’s hold, sobbing pathetically, shaking his head. “I can’t.” He was saying, mumbling, repeating it desperately. “You can!” This time it was Rey’s determined voice. The sabre in her hand began to tremble slightly and she raised her other hand in the direction of the throne. The gun was lifted from the bloody face, now pointing slightly above his head of dark curls, forcefully if Snoke’s livid look was anything to go by. “Stop it, stop it this instance!” He yelled, but with a flash the red blade activated again, humming with power as it sored through the air, impaling the emperor. Several shots were fired, only succeeding in hitting the ceiling and the both of them crashed to the floor, splattering blood in their fall.

The remaining guards instantly attacked Rey, the electricity leaving her writhing next to her paralysed master, Chewbacca crushed one of them in his strong arms, shooting the other two with his bow caster. The strong fighter picked Luke up while I helped Rey with getting back on her feet, then we went over to the throne. Kylo sat curled in on himself watching Snoke, who was somehow still alive with half of his guts splayed on the floor. The man was spitting insults and threats, even though he was clearly on his deathbed and the slave was obviously still scared, even though his old master would find death by his hands.

I touched the slave’s uninjured shoulder gently, ripping his eyes away from the monster on the floor. “Hux?” He asked softly and I nodded with a smile. Then Chewbacca and Luke reached for him and he touched their hands softly, recognizing them as his family, lost a lifetime ago. He was clutching at them, like a desperate child, sobbing while I was still holding his shoulder, Rey petting his hair in a calming gesture.  
Luke growled, obviously in pain, and Kylo flinched violently. “You’re gonna die.” He mumbled under his breath and he was right, Luke’s blood painted our way here, he lost way too much already, unable to move his legs and in pain. He was not going to make it out of this tower, but at the moment all of our chances weren’t exactly good.

“They’ll come for you, you’ll never be free!” Were Snoke’s last words, triying to reach for his slave again, unable to touch, to hurt him any more and he was right. The troops were near, we barely had any bullets left and were down to three fighters, now having an injured Ben to protect at our side.  
But it looked like Rey and Ben were having a silent conversation. Technically they had never met before, but they looked familiar with each other and Luke soon joined in on their conversation, thankfully for my benefit aloud.

“I know you are powerful Ben, but you’re hurt, that man weakened you, do you really think you can do that?” The older man asked and Rey nodded eagerly. “He has a connection already! Everybody is out of the tower and we can help him with it.” She explained and Luke sighed in understanding. “I know you don’t like it, but I’m going to die. There is nothing to be afraid of in death, I’ll embrace it, but first you should use my remaining energy. While I doubt that you can do it alone, three of our kind can definitely do it.”

I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but it sounded stupidly dangerous and also implied the destruction of the tower. The Wookie looked equally clueless, but carried Luke over to the huge glass front of the room when asked to and Rey and I helped a limping Kylo along. The three force users settled in front of the glass, separating us from the ocean, holding onto each other with Ben in the middle.

Rey finally explained what was happening, although very briefly. “We are going to fall this tower and everyone within it. It’s our only chance if we want to make it out alive. Chewie, you sit behind Ben and hold on to him, Hux, do the same with me.” And we did, a little reluctant, especially the Wookie, who needed to lay his huge palms onto Kylo’s bandaged back, trying to not hurt him any further.  
“And how exactly do you plan on surviving when the tower crashes and we’re this deep down?” I asked only joking a little. “Just see.” It was Ben’s soft voice that answered, and even though he sounded exhausted, he also sounded sincere, like this wasn’t just a prolonged suicide, that would take all of Snoke’s troops with us. And I believed him.

When we sat like instructed, the three of them touched the glass and waited. I was getting nervous, the shouts of the men outside were clearer now, they were close, it wouldn’t take long for them to storm this room now. Nothing was happening, what in god’s name were they even doing?!  
But before I could say anything on the matter two gigantic, yellow eyes stared at me from the depths of the dark ocean outside and I realized. Kylo had called one of the mysterious sea creatures Krima’s oceans was feared for. For a second I was sure we would all die, but at least we would take everyone in here with us. But Ben was an honest creature, he wouldn’t lie, somehow we would live, I just needed to trust him and the force for a little while longer.


	11. Rescue

The creature that appeared in the glass front was absolutely gigantic, bigger even then most of the space ships I’d seen and it made sense. Krima may be a rather small planet, but the ocean was vast and deep, perfect for lifeforms like this. In the darkness of the sea it was only a shadow of long fins at first and the intense glow of these eyes, then other markings of yellow and green were visible. Bioluminescence, a phenomenon often seen in creatures inhabiting dark places like space or in this case the ocean, but it was still fascinating to see it in a completely unknown being.

The next thing about the animal that became visible was it’s maw, big like a black hole and just as intimidating with the softly glowing teeth inside, four longed canines protruding way past it’s lower jaw. It looked absolutely deadly and made yourself ask what other creatures inhabited this sea if this gigantic being needed such vicious weapons to protect itself.

I swallowed hard as it swam closer, it’s eyes seemingly fixed on the three force users before us. Behind us the troops had reached the throne room and were pointing their guns at our backs, giving commands. They wanted us to lie flat on the floor, to give up and be their bargain chip to survival if the revolution won. And they undoubtedly would win, now that the empires leader was dead.

They threatened to shoot us all, still unaware of the predator right outside it seemed, cocking their guns and I wanted to reach for my own blaster, Rey stopping me. “No, hold on.” She instructed firmly and that’s when the first trooper noticed the glowing animal in the ocean.

“Shit, shit, what the hell is that?!” He screamed, pointing past us into the darkness of the sea. “Oh my god, I thought it was supposed to be a joke about these giant monsters here!” Another one answered shocked and the fear of the whole troop was suddenly strong in the air. “The fuck’s it doing here, I never saw one of these before.” A third man said sounding confused. “Man, I don’t care, the tower has been here forever, they won’t start attacking it now, right? Let’s shoot these bastards and stop this bullshit rebellion!” The trooper sounded furious while saying so and lifted his gun again.

The man was kind of right, the tower had never been attacked by the original inhabitants of this planet before, but he didn’t know that this time was very different. Usually I would praise a man like that for his level head, but the situation was a little difficult. The creature outside was picking up speed, his already giant frame rapidly growing as it came nearer and then it rammed the tower head on. It was worse than every earthquake I had ever felt, shaking the tower, metal squealing, trying to hold the structure upright. The men behind us fell to the floor, stumbling over each other, I ducked my head, clutching Rey’s robes desperately.

The monster didn’t stop, it’s enormous teeth scratched the glass with a horrible sound. The first men who got up ran, fled, but it was too late, they wouldn’t make it out. Glass was cracking, Luke was panting on the floor, he had let go of Ben, who was now safely clutched in the huge arms of the Wookie, still grasping Rey’s hand. I myself was trembling, adrenalin rushing through my body, the fight or flight instinct was strong, but instead I clutched Rey close to my chest, the other hand digging into Chewbacca’s fur for support in this falling tower.

Water was starting to leak in and I held my breath, scared that any moment now the whole glass front would collapse and instantly drown us. And I was right, the giant tail of the creature hit the tower, something metallic in the outer structure gave out with a deafening snap and the glass sprung into a thousand pieces. Screaming was the last sound I heard, the men behind us to panicked to remember holding their breath would be best, then there was only water.

It was freezing, making me shut my eyes instantly. I felt glass cutting into my skin and desperately tried to hold on even as the force of the ocean flooding the tower was trying to rip me apart, but I just knew, if I’d let go of Rey or Chewie I would die. It was instinctual, but when I opened my eyes, I felt disorientated. The salt water stung my eyes, but I realized that the water had pushed us to the back wall of the throne room with the troopers, that was not good, the chance of reaching air getting smaller. The others realized this around the same time as me, swimming into the open water without letting go of each other.

I was concerned, that monster still swam right in front of the tower, would it swallow us down? Was it dangerous for us or not? I felt panicked suddenly, the need to breath was strong, but it was already so dark down here, surface seemed way out of reach, even as we were out of the tower and looked up, I couldn’t imagine making it out.  
In the corner of my eye I saw those intimidating teeth again, the soft glow stronger while close, and then we were eye to eye with the sea creature bigger than a space ship.

But instead of getting swallowed by that maw like I expected Kylo reached out to touch it’s snout. There was a soft sound in the water and the monster swam beneath our small group and then upwards, effectively carrying us with it. It was going slow, careful not to let us burst with the pressure of the ocean receding as we went up. I felt delirious, perched on the giant snout, the skin felt rough, there was a scar as thick as my whole body I observed absentmindedly. I really needed to breath, the last dregs of air forcefully leaving my lungs in a coughing fit. The others weren’t doing any better, Rey was limp in my hold and I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating or not, but it looked like Kylo was petting this giant sea monster while it swam to surface with us.

I closed my eyes for a second and when I next opened them, I was lying on a wet, cold rock. My body was desperately breathing in air, coughing and chocking in between and I was absolutely soaked. For a blank moment I had absolutely no recollection of what happened, then I felt wet fur in my face and another trembling body at my side. The rain was pouring still, I pushed Chewbacca’s fuzzy hand out of my face and turned on my left. Rey was unconscious, but breathing fine. I sat up as soon as I could and looked for Ben, I felt so much lighter when I saw him, still cradled in the Wookie’s secure hold, the giant sea creature was nowhere in sight, already disappeared into the depths of the ocean again I guessed.

My breath was fogging in front of my eyes, I felt like I was freezing, all parts of my body felt painful and stiff. I was probably in the midst of a shock reaction already after losing consciousness underwater, and I could only guess that the others weren’t doing any better.

As Rey was lying directly next to me, I let my eyes roam over her first while trying to get my painful breathing under control. Her thin appearance was shaking terribly, but when I lifted my own hands, I realized that was probably a problem all of us had right now. Other than that, she wasn’t looking to bad, there was a big, bloody gash on her forehead, disappearing into her hairline, but as we all were wet and as headwounds just tended to bleed a lot I just assumed that it wasn’t too bad.  
Her chest moved just fine, it looked like she was getting enough air, the blue colour of her lips more from the cold than anything else and she was already beginning to stir, slowly waking up.

On my other side, partially over my own body actually, laid Chewbacca. With the thick, dark fur it was difficult to make out injuries, but he was huffing and growling slightly. It meant he was in pain, or at least I thought so, not all that familiar with the Wookie species, but at least he was alive.

Over his giant form it was difficult to make out Kylo, but he was breathing audibly, wheezing in a way that pointed out he was having difficulties with getting enough air.

I swallowed hard, fear still clinging to my very bones and let my eyes roam the dark sky in search of a ship, or at least our location. Most ships were out of orbit, too large to get underneath the cloud cover of Krima, I didn’t see a single movement in the sky other than the falling rain, stinging my eyeballs like needles after all the saltwater seeping in.

Next I noticed some high rock formations, next to them the plateau that anchored the tower. Or at least what had once been the tower. Some steel beams were still sticking out of the rock, the outer wall only a husk, jagged and ripped. The tower had fallen, completely disappearing in the wrathful floods of dark ocean.

I saw a dark fin peeking out for a second, then a large tail and the creature that had saved our lives vanished again, deep down where it hopefully won’t be disturbed again.

It was difficult to concentrate, I felt weak, finally noticing a large gash in my wet jacked. When I touched it, my hand came back red. A queasy feeling was starting up in my stomach, but now was not the time for panic, so I pushed it down again, turning onto my side and shaking thy giant Wookie’s arm off of me.

I kept holding on, shaking him until he finally swatted at me, sitting up with a loud groan. He was looking around, seemingly confused, noticing our situation fast and turning to Ben instantly.  
He was clutching his ribs but when he touched the slave, he was gentle, reluctant even, afraid he would hurt the wounded human.

Finally I was able to get up as well, or at least try to, because my legs just gave out on me. I looked down, only to find my right leg twisted in an unnatural direction. A stab of pain followed the vision, it was definitely broken, but again I choose to ignore it, pulling my body closer to Kylo with my arms instead.

My breath caught in my throat, it felt like a knot was made out of my windpipe when I got a good view of my childhood friend. The cut bisecting his face was still bleeding sluggishly making his skin look white as sheet beneath it, even his lips were pale, his breath not fogging up like ours. He was probably heavily undercooled, his body to weak to protect itself from the weather after being confined to the tower for such a long time.  
The bandages were clumping together because of their wet state, falling off of bony shoulders, revealing what I instantly identified as whip marks, slightly crusted, but they were probably reopened in our daring escape just now.

Subconsciously I gnashed my teeth to supress my anger. Snoke was dead, it didn’t feel like an appropriate punishment for the crimes he had committed against this young man alone, lying here on this cold, hard rock instead of receiving the care he urgently needed.

“We need to keep him warm as best as we can.” I instructed the Wookie, my voice cracking painfully, sending my lungs into another coughing fit.

Ben’s uncle by all but blood was growling apologetically while gathering the starved body of his nephew in his arms. The fur, although soaking wet was helping him preserve heat pretty well, so he enveloped the smaller body nearly completely. I witnessed the fierce warrior push dark locks out of the pale face with as much care as his giant, clawed hands were capable of, laying the neck of the unconscious slave down into the crook of his elbow. He was whining in mental anguish as the smaller body flinched, his back probably hurt like hell while in contact with Chewbacca’s front, maybe it was subconscious fear as well.

I turned back to Rey as the sound of retching was coming from her direction. Thankfully she wasn’t currently chocking on her own vomit, but had pushed herself up on her small arms while bringing all the swallowed salt water back up rather violently.

After that she looked relatively clear though, walking over to our group on unsure legs before sitting down heavily again. She smiled, hiding a pained expression not on her own expense, but one the state of everyone, especially Ben, her eyes lingering on the fellow force user.

We huddled for warmth, close to the Wookie and Kylo. We had no weapons left, our strength was exhausted to the last bit, all we could do was wait for rescue. Poe had probably seen the tower crashing, did he think we were dead?

Apparently not, because we caught sight of the Millennium Falcon in the sky, it was circling over the ocean, looking for us it seemed. The rock we were sitting on was small, the waves even occasionally licking at our sitting forms, but Poe, the best pilot he just simply was, found us. Unable to land here he threw us a tow. All of us were bordering on our limits, but with the last drags of power we could do it, this was our only chance.

Chewbacca gasped the rope first, with only one hand, the other supporting the still unconscious ex slave. The Wookie was wounded as well, blood clumping his fur in several places over his arms and shoulder, but he seemed at ease as he pulled the both of them up, the prospect of finally bringing Ben home making him strong.

Rey was next, she was dizzy, probably a concussion if her headwound was anything to go by, but she clutched the rope with all the mental stability a force user could muster. Her pure determination was enough to make her hold on until she was on the ship.

I myself was having some difficulties. My legs were useless in helping me hold on, one broken, the other simply too weak. The hand that was attached to my cut-up arm was moving slow, unable to fully grip, so I made do with one good hand and will. I wanted to see Kylo well again, to see him with a happy smile, but first I needed to make it off this rock. The only chance to do that: Holding onto this damn tow!

When I finally reached the edge of the ship some of the nurses helped pull me up.  
The Millennium Falcon was bustling with activity, holding as many people as it was capable of. It was a little too much for my exhausted body, I got confused until someone made me lie down on a small cot.

I knew that platinum blonde hair and the freckles, although his name took a while to come back to mind. It was Nics, a fellow slave of Kylo and he was smiling a big, thankful smile at me. People were touching me, pulling the soaked clothes off my body. Panic was bubbling in my mind once again, but before I could start to hyperventilate the blonde ex slave pulled my face back in his direction, so I would listen to him.

“You’re save, we all are thanks to you. Kylo’s safe as well, just look.” He said, changing position of my head slightly so I could see past him. My eyes landed on the cot at the other wall, Chewbacca was sitting on the floor next to it, like a guard sentinel and on it laid, just like Nics promised, Kylo. Just like with me the nurses who fled the tower were pulling his few clothes and with them the soaked bandages off. One woman was already pressing bandages into his horribly cut face to finally stop the bleeding and I noticed someone pushing cloth over the wound on my arm as well.

“We can’t treat the worst wounds, like your leg here, but everyone’s stable, no one will die, all thanks to you. It could have ended in disaster.” He was speaking again, in a soft, calming tone, that in the end made me drift off into unconsciousness myself.

When I woke up again, I was still staring at the same ceiling, I was still on the Falcon, but everything was still. Everything hurt, it looked like the adrenalin had finally left my body, that was good, because it meant I was not in shock anymore, but bad in the way how utterly destroyed my body felt now. It made sense, we had packed some things for medical emergencies, but not all that much in the form of painkillers.

I needed to know the situation nonetheless, so I at least decided to turn my head so I could observe the room. Instinctively my eyes landed on the other cot first. Kylo was still there, thank god. He looked small, even though he was actually pretty tall, but his form was diminished, starved and smothered in blankets and bandages to keep him warm and hold his wounds together. There was an IV tapped to his shoulder, right next to the bandaged area, that was the continuation from the cut on his face.

I had never seen that before, but learned about it in academy. If the arms and hands, primary points for IV interstation were not available one could go for the shoulder or ankles. Fuck, I had seen the extend of scars on Kylo’s arms, his veins were probably shot to hell, it was considerably easier finding a point in-between his bony shoulders, where the veins still stood out.

He was soundly asleep. Had he woken up or was he unconscious the whole time? How long were we even here for? I worried, silently gnawing on my bottom lip while taking in the rest of the room.

Chewie had not left his nephew’s side, but was fast asleep with his head on the cot next to him. On his arms and back large clumps of fur were missing. It was probably easier to use surgical glue and plasters with his physical appearance, then to stitch him up and bandage the wounds like for humans.

Then I took notice of all the other people in the small room. Nurses and ex slaves were sleeping on the floor, leaning their backs against the warm walls of the Falcon or onto each other. The only chair in the room, a soft padded one, that was probably brought from the small living space on the ship housed Rey. A thick, large jacket covered her body well past her thighs, concealing her hands completely. Her head was bandaged and just like the other people here she appeared to be sleeping.

I felt something move on my own cot and looked down, meeting Nics’ eyes. He had just woken up, or at least he looked like it, his hair mussed, rubbing his face and yawning behind his pale hands. Then he smiled at me. Unable to react properly I looked away.  
I didn’t even need to ask, the young man started talking low on his own accord.

“We won by the way. General Solo broadcasted the fall of the tower and with it the fall of the Supreme Leader Snoke throughout the galaxy. His remaining forces capitulated. Your other friend, the blonde one, is fine, she’s lying down in one of the private rooms. We still need to fly for a while as the base changed location. We were given Atupa as our new centre as the imperium gave up. It’s a civil planet, good medical care for all injured they promised. As the General accepted this offer, I guess it has to be true. It’ll be best if you go back to sleep, Kylo won’t wake up for a while, probably not until he’s physically better actually.”

All that information didn’t exactly sooth my worries, but exhaustion was still raging in my body. There was not much I could do other than listen to his light voice and let it carry me back into deep, dreamless sleep.


	12. Fear and hope

The next time I opened my eyes was preceded by noise.  
While my lids were still closed, my brain huddled in a state of half dreams and wakefulness I heard voices. There was a snoring sound to my right, giggling passing through an adjacent corridor, loud footsteps, a soft beeping and lots of conversation going on that I could not really understand at the moment.

When I was finally able to lift my crusted eyelids, tears gathered on my lashes, my eyeballs trying to fight the feeling of dryness, clouding my vision.

Not that there was much to see in my line of vision. As soon as the tears cleared, I was looking at a metal wall. I carefully reached out with the arm that didn’t hurt with every breath I took and felt the warm steel beneath my palm hum.

It was a ship, I was in a ship. My thoughts were slow, heavy as molasses but then I realized that I was probably still in the Falcon.

This was proven right as soon as I managed to turn my head, followed by my body onto my other side, blinking into the faces of a dozen or so people who were still gathered in the small room.

I saw that Rey was finally awake again, chattering away with Nics and some other slaves, probably his friends, that had gathered around her chair.  
Chewbacca was the source of the loud snoring, he was still leaning against the cot of his vulnerable nephew, asleep at last after guarding him for who knows how long through the night.

Some nurses were passing by the door again, shortly sticking their heads in and leaving again as they were probably happy with what they saw, that everyone was calm, nobody visibly hurting.

Then my eyes landed on Kylo again. The ex-slave was sleeping soundly, or at least it looked like he was doing exactly that.

He was lying on his front, his torso freshly bandaged, only small smears of blood visible instead of splotches that covered his whole body. The rest of his form was covered by thick blankets, his head carefully resting on a soft pillow, facing my direction to relive the pain in his face. Half of his beautiful features were covered by bandages, including the eye. Once again, I worried if it could be saved…

From the bandages that covered his shoulders sneaked the IV line. There was some leeway, so he would not rip it out with sudden movement, it was taped along the back of his arm before going upwards, connecting him to a clear bag of fluid. I really hoped they gave him the good stuff, so he would not be in pain while unconscious.

I was just simply looking at him for a long time. Honestly, it felt like I was dreaming, but he was really here, away from Snoke, with me. It’s an incredible feeling, indescribable.

As soon as I could take my eyes off him again, I was looking down at myself. There was no IV for me, no wonder, we were pretty low on medical necessities, so I just had to live with the full extent of my pain for now.

At least it wasn’t too bad while lying down, my cut-up arm was throbbing beneath my own layer of bandages, but the only serious injury I had sustained was my broken leg, and that was quit alright as long as I did not move it in any way.

So when I finally gathered enough strength to sit up I tried not to jostle it too much. I was, let’s say, demi successful.

I moaned loudly while straightening my body up but got comfortable soon enough, settling my weight against the pillow and the wall behind it.

Before I knew it two nurses, Nics and Rey were at my side again, worrying aloud over my condition. I soothed them as best as I could. Comfort was never something that was required from me before, so it was a little difficult to not just snap at them that I was perfectly fine, thank you!

“Ahh, don’t worry, it’s just the leg, all good.” I tried instead, still sounding grumpy as all hell even though I tried not to. At least it didn’t look like they took offense, as the young force user was beaming brightly at me and Nics was smiling as well, although not in the childish and innocent way Rey did.

The two nurses were still fussing tough, checking my bandages and apologising for the pain I must be in. Instead of pills they offered me water and some food, which I actually took. I was grateful, my stomach was grumbling loudly to accentuate my thanks.

As I was beginning to eat the nurses finally left again. Rey brought her chair closer to my cot so I could be part of their conversation. Not that I was actually partaking, but it was nice to listen to their chatters.

I also got some new information while listening to them. We would reach Atupa in a few hours, where the General and an extensive medical team would await us. The nurses aboard the Millennium Falcon were in contact with the team on the new base to inform them about the condition of their future patients to ensure fast treatment as soon as we reached the planet.

They also spoke about the political happenings. Although the war was technical over our galaxy was still in a state of uproar. Everyone wanted their part of the cake now, territory, recourses, and most important, the borders must be drawn anew.  
Then there was also the topic of slaves and the sentencing of war criminals. New laws must be written down, a council must be formed, alliances were to be made.

General Solo and her team probably wished the war back right now, the chaos of the aftermath tended to be a lot more stressful than actual headlong fighting.

I the moment I was happy to have lost all my political power, I was a nobody revolutionary, just like everyone else, so these matters did not really concern me right now.  
All I cared about was our Recovery. My own of course, Phasma’s and above all else, Kylo’s.

The only thing I actually contributed was a small question as soon as I was done with my food. “Was there any change?” I asked and their eyes followed mine to the other cot in the room.

“No, he did not wake up. They cared for his wounds as best as they could in these conditions, but he needs a real doctor as soon as possible.” Nics’ was the one to provide me with the sombre answer.

I nodded and let a calm feeling wash over me again, dozing while sitting up, listening to the younger one’s conversation with one ear.

Like they said, it took some hours till we reached the planet of our destination, but as soon as we did all calm was gone again. The refugees we took in at the tower were the first to leave the falcon.

The nurses, technicians and ex-slaves probably all needed new papers and should take statements against the things that went down in that horrible place. Nics left with them, waving with a pained smile, touching Kylo’s bare hand for a second.

Then the ship took off again, flying us directly to the hospital building. Things got hectic as soon as the ramp was down and medical teams came for the injured, including myself of course.

Chewbacca had woken up with a loud and growling yawn, Finn and Poe entered the small room with a doctor at their side introducing his patients. First to be pointed out was Ben of course, his injuries were the worst out of all of us, he was unconscious the whole time, he needed treatment immediately. So a droid was led through that took him away.

Honestly, I felt a little panicked, letting him out of my sight felt like a mistake, but it was the right thing to do objectively.

Poe introduced me next, well not really, only pointing out deep cuts and a broken leg, then Rey, concussion and minor injuries and last the Wookie, bullet wound and smaller cuts.

They left the room shortly, going to get Phasma as her injuries were follow up to Kylo’s. She had been through extensive torture for a week, it was obvious how bad it was even in the short time I had taken to look her over in that fucking dungeon we found her in.

When they came back the doctor and Finn helped me manoeuvring myself onto the stretcher, the other two fallowing on foot as they were able to walk pretty well, but before we could go inside, we were met by a well-known face.

Rey rushed to the woman, falling into her arms, Chewbacca fallowing her example with big strides, howling like an animal in anguish while doing so.

The General simple patted both of their heads, the giant Wookie leaning down for her comfort as if it was the most natural thing on earth. She was soothing them in a low voice, reminding me of a mother I never had.

Meanwhile Finn and Poe looked like wet dogs. Depressed and unsure of themselves, not wanting to go near to the group they actually loved above all else in fear of repercussion.

Rey was apologising with tears running down her cheeks. “We didn’t bring him back, I’m so sorry Leia, first we don’t bring your husband back and now your brother is dead as well, we failed you so bad Leia!” she sobbed and the Wookie was probably agreeing if I understood his whining and gurgling correctly.

“Oh no my sweet child, if anyone failed you it was me. It was my fault that they took my boy away from me. Mine and Han’s and Luke’s as well, all those years ago we failed all of you without even knowing it. And now Ben is finally home, and you two came back as well. We have even found new friends on the way.” The General spoke with a smile in her voice I’d have claimed her incapable of before this, squinting in my direction briefly.

“I am sure that Ben’s father and uncle are as happy as me about this, I can feel it and as soon as you feel a little better, I’m sure you will be able to feel it too. Now you need to calm yourself though, so you all can be treated.”

As soon as their hysterics died down a little a team of more doctors and nurses took us away. I got separated from them soon after, finally getting some painkillers and a sedative, as a small operation on my broken leg was inevitable.

This time around waking up did not feel like painfully dragging myself out of a cave, but like I had taken a nice winter sleep only to wake up well rested on a warm and comfy spring day.

Opposed to Krima Atupa was a big planet with a pleasant climate. The days were long and sunny, the vegetation rich and green, bird like creatures twittering outside. My eyes opened to bright sunshine falling through the large window that adorned my room.

The walls were coloured a soft blue grey colour, something easy on the eyes while not being sterile white that made hospitals feel oh so oppressive. The bed was big and soft, my leg in a strong brace and elevated on a stack of pillows. It was the only bed in the room, I was alone with a set of chairs, a small table and a holo device mounted to the far wall.

There was a call-button on the side table, as well as a glass of water. I went for the liquid first as my mouth felt as dry as the air on my home planet had in my childhood.

An IV was taped to the back of my hand and while sitting up I did not feel pain in the slightest way, so I guessed we were at least not lied to. Medical care here on Atupa was pretty good.

I didn’t even need to use the call-button, a male nurse checked on me while I was still sipping my water, claiming that I was doing really well, the cuts on my arms were not too bad, wouldn’t even scar and my leg would be like new in a few weeks.

He was happy while bustling around me, bringing me a new glass as soon as I was done with mine, checking the readings on different machines, typing something on the holo pad that was attached to my bed before leaving again. It looked like he was enjoying his job, something I envied him for.

Shortly after a doctor showed up, just to check as well and explaining the procedure on my leg, accompanying him was the General herself.

She nodded first in greeting, then in understanding, listening to the man explaining how my bones would grow back together in no time and stayed even after he left.

“I just wanted to officially thank you for everything you’ve done, not just for the resistance, but for me as well. Bringing back my son was a personal affair, for both you and me I guess, but even before that you put in hard work for years. I will make sure that you will be gratified for that. Honestly, I would like you to be part of the new council, but you will probably have a lot of enemies with your past, I can understand if you don’t want that anymore.”

The words she spoke to me in that hospital room put a lot of thoughts in my head. I had dreamt for years about a time when Snoke would not be the leader of our nation anymore, but I never figured out what I wanted to do with my life if it really happened. It was just a dream after all, but now it was real and here I was, with no idea what to do with myself.

I swallowed thickly before shaking my head softly. “Yeah, about Kylo, ahh sorry, Ben. I did that for myself and him, not for you, sorry to disappoint General.”

“No no, I knew that, it’s fine, you did me a great service anyway believe me. And really, call me Leia please.” She answered promptly, laughing in a way that indicated she was perfectly familiar with doing things out of egoism, and that was something I got.

“I… Yes, I’d be honoured if you offered me a place in your council, I am way to familiar with backfire to be bothered by it anymore, but I’m not sure if I’m ready yet for something new. I feel like the chapter isn’t finished yet, I can’t start something new before that is done.” I stated honestly, letting my eyes wander back to the window.

“Ah yes, recovery is a winding road, not a one-way ticket, I fear. I bet you want to know how your friend is doing right? Your commander, Phasma?”

“Yes, but also Ben. They were hurt horribly when I last caught a glimpse of them.” I nodded, trying to push the pictures formed in the tower away.

“Of course. Well, Phasma is on a good way. She has several broken bones and lost two fingers as you probably remember, her injuries and also the stories told by your fellow warriors indicate that she has been tortured for days. She confirmed this a few hours ago, claiming that Snoke himself had done it, some of his Officers as well. She told us names, but they all died in the fall of the tower.  
She’s sleeping a lot because she’s receiving strong painkillers, but a few weeks in bed will do wonders for her. She’s really strong, your friend.”

I grinned proudly at the older woman and indicated for her to sit down. I expected nothing less, other people might be brought down by torture such as this, but we were talking about THE Phasma after all.

“Ben’s not doing so well sadly. He didn’t wake up because he’s so weak, completely cut off from his powers and currently living through withdrawal he’s also at risk for infection. That bastard hooked him on a cocktail of drugs that makes it difficult to decipher what they even were meant for and left injuries untreated for days.”

Now it was Leia’s turn to stare out of the window forlornly. “Not to mention what else he did to my child.” She said in a bitter tone that made my hairs stand on end because I knew exactly what she was talking about. The pictures were haunting my mind.

“What about the collar? The collar is what keeps his force locked away right? Did you get it off?” I asked, remembering the chunk of metal surrounded by scars and bruises.

“No, not yet, they’re afraid they’ll hurt him in the process, but I know what you think. I agree, his recovery will probably go much smother as soon as his connection to the force is strengthened again.  
But for now, he has to deal with this in the conventional way. He had a small operation for the week-old bullet wound and they sewed his back together as best as they could. His face is covered in bacta for now, that saved his eye, but it will scar nonetheless I fear.”

Her explanations were painful because of how well I remembered the horrible extend of his injuries on his already weakened body. There was no reasonable estimate on when he would wake up, not to mention the state he would be in mentally.

Snoke, that monster had starved, beaten and raped him since he was only a boy. Did he even remember his mother, would he hate her for not protecting him, would he hate me for not coming to his rescue sooner?

At the moment Leia and I were more than simple allies, we shared our fears and hopes in regard of one person like we were two parts of one single soul.

I reached out carefully, holding onto her cold and calloused hands with my own warm ones and prayed to be a source of comfort for the strong General that had lost so much already.

“I’m glad we made it this far, I’m sure things will finally change for good.” I said, attempting to finally sound happy, after all I had done to reach my goal. “As soon as I get my clear from the doctor, I’ll visit them.” I explained and the older laughed, saying that I was not alone in that endeavour. Rey was just as eager to get out of bed and visit her Wookie friend and Ben.

I agreed with a real smile on my cracked lips and we ate together, lame hospital food on a small side table, but it felt good. Like there was finally no need to lie and fight anymore. It was the first time my life that did not feel like a constant battle anymore, the first step to the happy ever after, right?


	13. Uncertainty

Lying in bed for a week may sound like stress relief for most, and at first it was, after all I’d been through some shit before, including an exploding planet sized weapon, an intergalactic war, the loss of allies, fear for my loved ones and last but not least a giant sea monster in a freezing ocean swim.

I was constantly in between pain and exhaustion, even with the good medical care the resistance provided me with, because the medication left me incredibly tired and if I waited too long with taking it my leg started to throb like someone was putting a hammer against my kneecap or something of similar fashion.

The rest was good for my body, but my mind was raging after a few days of lying still.  
I was simply not made for being bound to a bed and doing nothing. My whole life was built around activity, living a life on two different sides was not easy after all.

As a traitor I had been alert at all times, while a normal officer of my standing would have enjoyed his free time and privileges, I was working even harder in my downtime. My sleep schedule has been fucked for years now, probably since I was a teen honestly. Since meeting Kylo for the first time, I guess…

So now it was proving to be extremely difficult to just lie around and do nothing.

I switched through the programs the holo screen provided first, but everybody just knows daytime program sucks. There were some soap operas that featured different alien and humanoid species, but the script was probably the same for every single one, there were cooking shows, interesting but made me hungry and in the end even more bored and of course the news.

And yeah, the news broadcasts weren’t really helping with my desire to jump out of bed and do something.

Hell, it was only a broken leg, how long could that take to heal?!  
The doctor answered that question with a bemused snort. “It will take at least five weeks, I fear. Modern medicine is great, but it’s still no magic my good sir! Your leg was badly broken in several places, you should call yourself lucky, in different times this would have taken double the time, triple the pain and you could still be effected by this injury for life.”

Objectively I knew the doctor was right, that didn’t help me with feeling less like a caged animal though.

Leia showed up whenever she could and was my only solace in this room of boredom for a while.  
She brought food and news when she came, claiming that after last time she’d rather not eat the dishes the hospital provided us with and ate with me on the small side table.

I discussed the political happenings with her, giving advice if I felt like my opinion was informed enough to share with the wise General soon to be Senator. But also personal things, most important topic of course, Ben’s recovery, or rather lack of.

Some of his wounds got infected, his body was fighting an internal war with disease, waging a high fever. He was probably through the worst of the withdrawals after a week, but nobody could tell as long as he was not awake and coherent yet. The few times he actually opened his eyes he was delirious and weak.

Rey and Chewbacca were back on their feet already and all they wanted was to visit Ben, but up until now Leia had been the only one allowed in the private, little room. It was probably for the best the bitter mother told me, the ex-slave looked horrible, still collared as the doctors had not yet found a safe solution to get it off him.

Instead they came to visit me. Well, Rey did, Finn, Poe and the Wookie were more like an escort, accompanying her to my room but not really talking.  
Actually I did not talk all that much either, sharing only few pleasantries with the girl and letting her chatter about all and everything for most of the time.

Still, it was nice when the room was not quiet and empty. She even brought me a holo pad with some digital books on it. I decided on a literature about Atupa’s nature. With the soft climate it was a paradise for vegetation and animals of all kind, not to forget some of the native folks who apparently lived in high trees. Modern architecture had adapted to that old way of living apparently.

For once it was always good to know everything about your base of operations, but it was also nice to think about nature and picture these foreign things in my head while lying in bed. It softened my boredom and relaxed me at least a little bit while I had to wait this injury out.

After a whole week I was finally able to leave.

Leia came to get me, bringing Rey and a neat bundle of clothes along with her.  
The doctor had already introduced me to a pair of crutches three days ago, enough time to get familiar with them in the hospital, so now I could walk out of here with them securely under my arms.

The clothes were simple enough, black slacks that were a little big, but perfect to fit the brace underneath it that still protected my wounded leg, and a white shirt, that fit pretty nicely.

I tried desperately to comb my fiery hair to some kind of order with my fingers, but the endeavour was proving to be mostly useless.  
Rey tried to assure me that it was okay though, nobody walked out of hospital like a model on a catwalk. The picture of me and my crutches on a catwalk actually made grin for a second there.

As we left the building the sun was burning into my eyes and there was a soft breeze tickling my neck. I finally caught a glimpse at the structures around here and the layout of the city.  
The hospital building was flat and long, probably going far underground. There were some smaller buildings with a similar design interspaced by giant trees, like the ones I read about.

High towers were built around the stems, colourful balconies and plants visible even from down here. There was more space in the trees themselves, at least that was my estimate when I looked at the cables that came down from the thick branches, connecting to the buildings around them, the floor and also other threes if any were nearby.

The whole city was built on a flat plane that was completely circled be mountains, the peaks dusted in a covering of snow. It was a good spot for a large city, easy to protect, the sky the only way for the enemy to attack.

Well not that there was an attack to fear, it was just automatically where my mind went first.

Leia led our small group to the nearest tree and I realized what the cables were here for. They belonged to different elevators, this one taking us upwards to what I guessed was a large knothole once. Now it was a glass slide door that led to a nice corridor that was adorned by a lot of doors. This was a residential building, I quickly realized and I was handed the key to a small apartment.

“We live here as well, actually most of the people that came with the resistance live here now. My quarter is right down this corridor, number 328 and Rey has the same room as you do, only one level over us.” Leia explained, asking me for my tablet so she could type in the room numbers of everyone I knew.

“You should probably go shopping first! Well, more like order online, but you know what I mean, since you have no clothes and food and stuff. Till it arrives you can come upstairs and eat with me if you’d like, Poe and Finn are mostly there as well!” Rey said beaming brightly in the typical Rey way.

I was beginning to admire the positivity this girl radiated, even though she was born into a world that was constantly out to get her, so I agreed and thanked the women before entering my new living space.

It was simple, the walls natural wood of the tree we were living in, the furniture sparse, only what was needed, but the view was absolutely fantastic. There was only a small glass window, as the tree was not supposed to be harmed, the bark the protective layer all around us, but that small window led to one of the balconies I had already seen from the outside. From there I could overlook the whole city, up to the mountain tops.

It’s so different from the dark space and metal rooms I had lived in for most of my life, it is definitely something I could get used to…

I followed Rey’s advice and began ordering some stuff online. I could pay via a card the General had handed me, as my own accounts were currently frozen, like all imperial money.

First was food of course. I did not really know how to cook much, so I ordered ingredients even a wild ape could probably cook.

Then I ordered some clothes. I had my size down to a T, but after having worn military issue outfits for nearly a decade now it was a little difficult to decide with all the options the online store had to offer.

Most of my items were black pants, black dress shoes and mostly white dress shirts. My first impulse was to buy those black as well, but I would probably look too much imperial officer still if I did that, so I chose white instead.  
Some of them even were a light blue, more of a revolution for me than the actual revolution I had fought in!

I continued to read my book, dragging one of the living room chairs to the balcony to do so. That was fucking hell and I looked like a retarded crab while doing so because of the crutches and the brace keeping my leg mostly immobile.

In the evening I followed Rey’s invitation, eating with her, Finn and Poe. It was a nice vegetable dish, a little spicy as the young force user was strictly vegetarian.

After I left them, I took a quick shower, haha quick that’s a lie, that stupid brace was such a nuisance, but it was still nice and I finally felt clean and exhausted as I fell into my new bed.

On the next day my orders arrived, first the clothes, which I was immensely grateful for, it was always important for my appearance to be pristine, and later the food.

I was finally able to comb my unruly hair and made some scrambled eggs for breakfast. As soon as I was dressed and had everything orderly put away, I left the apartment, taking the elevator down and hobbled the rest of the way back to the hospital.

While Leia may still be the only one that was allowed to visit Ben, I had another friend I wanted to see as soon as possible. Phasma.

Her room was easy to find and as I knocked, I could already hear her gruff voice, calling me inside. She sounded grumpy, no wonder most people who had visited up until now had probably been officials or medical personnel to take her statement or treat her injuries.

Her statement was one of the most important because she had been captured after rebelling against the forces she had worked for. She was the only one who had first hand witnessed the punishment and even torture Snoke dealt out to his subordinates and also his slaves. That it was normal within the walls of the tower what she had outlived.

Not to mention the documentation of her physical state, that was probably a statement all on it’s own.

Leia had visited her a few times out of courtesy I guessed, after all Phasma had dedicated her life to the General’s cause, just like I did. It was only fair that the woman would receive the same privileges I held right now.

But at the moment she really deserved a friend. As her only real friend that was my job and I was glad to be able to fulfil it after a week of not seeing her.

As soon as the woman saw me, she started laughing, observing how I shuffled through the room and let myself fall into the nearest chair.  
“Haha, I have never ever seen you so clumsy before Hux, you look ridiculous with those sticks for walking!”

“Very funny Phasma, very funny. I know I look like an idiot, but at least I’m on my feet and out of hospital without simply breaking my leg in half again.” I answered, sounding stiff and sarcastic, but my friend knew well enough how my humour worked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Ah you’re finally out, so you’re doing good?” She asked, sounding more at ease now that she knew it was nothing serious at least for me anymore.  
I simply nodded, letting my eyes roam over her form while doing so.

The tall woman was clad in a well-worn black singlet, the rest of her upper body more or less covered in bandages. Her significant platinum blonde hair was shorn short, but at least it was even again if you left out the cut areas of her scalp. There was only one plaster behind her right ear, the other wounds left uncovered because of how well healed they already were.

Her arms weren’t really visible, but even under the shirt I could make out thick bandages. Even more obvious was her hands, one still holding all five fingers, although three were held in a cast, the other missing the last digits.

I swallowed before meeting her steely eyes again. “And how are you?” It was a simple question, one I technically knew the answer for, Leia had provided me with regular medical updates about my friend and second in command, but my stomach still clenched in anticipation.

“I’m fine really. My ribs are the most problematic, some cracked, others broken, you know how it is. I had some internal bleeding, but everything is healing fast after two small operations. The rest is just superficial cuts.” She tried to wave me off, but I carefully grabbed her hand out of the air, pointing out the missing limbs.

“Even I would not call That superficial.” I said in my best no bullshit tone and she giggled. A sound my strong friend did not let out often because of how ‘girly’ it was and she was most definitely not ‘girly’.

“Yeah, you’re right, but it’s not to bad. You don’t necessarily need your pinkie and ring finger, you know? Just hurts like a bitch, but the Doc says it’ll be fine, so I believe him.”

Now it was my turn to smile and nod. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. By the way, do you know how to cook?” I asked, sheepish tone creeping into my voice.  
“Nah, how should I know? Always ate canteen food.” She answered with a dry expression on her face.

“Yeah thought so. Wanna do some shopping while I’m here? You’ll need some clothes for when you will be discharged and I need some fashion advice. Woman are supposed to be good at that, right?” I said, trying to wind her up a little bit, earning myself a slap to the elbow. I feigned hurt before joining her laughter, fishing the tablet out of my bag for her shopping.

I spent hours and a lot of money at her bedside, before leaving with the promise to tell her how my attempts at cooking went. At home I tried to make noodles for the first time in my life and felt like some kind of idiotic teenager while doing so. The result was edible, although the pasta was certainly a lot softer than it was probably supposed to be.

It was a routine for the next few days, sometimes cooking for myself in the evening or just going to Rey’s place if I didn’t feel like making a fool out of myself.

And then Leia finally texted me, asking if I wanted to come and visit Ben.

He was still very hurt and sick, but his fever had broken yesterday, the infection was receding and he was awake more often. He still wasn’t really coherent, only blinking into space while his eyes were open, not speaking and seemingly also not understanding what happened around him, but everything was better than half dead and unconscious at this point.

It was good news, and I rushed to the hospital, well as fast as I could, still hobbling with the crutches keeping me upright. Leia greeted me by the entrance and led the way to a different corner of the large building.

The room was bigger than the one I remembered waking up in, but that was no wonder, Kylo would have to stay way longer and was hooked up to at least three different machines that were placed beside the bed, not to mention the critical past days, where a nurse was constantly keeping an eye on him.

The window was bigger as well, flooding the room with warm sunlight. I was sure the ex-slave would love that particular feature as soon as he was a little more lucid. This warm and bright room was the exact opposite to the dark and oppressive tower he had lived in for years.

“I’m not sure if he’ll wake up today, or even if he does, he will probably not interact with us for a while now, but it’s better than not seeing him at all, am I right?” The young man’s mother spoke up softly from beside me, pulling two chairs with her to the bedside.

“Yes, of course.” I agreed with a quick thanks, sitting down next to her.  
We sat like that for hours, talking softly while observing the resting body before us.

He was still laid out on his front, to relieve his back of as much pain as possible, especially with the infection still going on. Even with the heavy bandages I could make out several splotches of blood, the colour not quiet red as it was infested by pus and other fluids.

His face was mostly bandages, the healthy side of it buried in the pillow, a canula in his nostrils helping him out with some oxygen as the position was not exactly optimal for his breathing. His dark hair was fanning out around him, the thick locks greasy even though the staff probably did their best with keeping him clean.

The IV line was finally moved, the nurses here with a stable hand found a spot near his elbow to secure a new line that steadily dripped fluids and painkiller into his bloodstream.

Even with all the good care he still looked closer to death than to life, too still, white as the sheets he was lying on and stick thin. His unconscious state for nearly two weeks now probably did not exactly help with that last point.

At one point in our conversation Leia carefully took her son’s lax hand into both of hers. It looked big compared to the elderly woman’s, it was amazing how tall Kylo grew even though he was starved even in his teens, he must be a very strong person even now.  
Both Leia and me believed he would make it through this as well…

After about two hours his body began to stir. A dry, grumbling moan made it out of his throat and his back hitched a little as his breathing picked up. Both of us were intently staring at the pale man’s face, waiting for a twitch, anything at all. Two sighs of relieve echoed in the hospital room as one black eye opened, the lid heavy as it blinked without really seeing anything.

The General still held on to his hand, pushing his hair back with the other, exposing one large earcup and more of the pale face we had been staring at. “Ben?” She asked hope and fear clear in her voice in equal measurements. I was holding onto the edge of my seat.

At first, he did not react at all, disappointment was heavy in the air when his single eye finally fixed itself to his mother’s face. “Mom?” He asked, his voice sounding absolutely wrecked, as if he’d swallowed nails or sand, but he had answered, he said something for the first time in weeks!

Tears ran down the Generals cheeks as she continued to stroke his hair. “Yes Ben, it’s me, I’m here don’t worry, you’re safe.” She used that soothing, motherly tone again and the young man on the bed bobbed his head, nodding as best as his position would allow it.

“Are you in pain?” She asked, sounding concerned as a whining sound rumbled in that collared throat. “S’ not bad.” He slurred his answer a little, blinking hard and clutching his mother’s hand. He was probably lying, he had to be in a lot of pain even with all the stuff they were giving him. But I guessed after all these years his pain tolerance was pretty high as well.

I cleared my throat absentmindedly and Leia’s eyes landed on mine for a second. “I’m just going to get you a glass of water baby, don’t worry, I’ll be right back. In the meantime, General Hux here will be your company, you won’t be alone.” She promised him, keeping him calm but at the same time getting his attention onto his second visitor, giving me the chance to spend precious time with him as well.

“What, no, Hux?” He said, sounding confused and afraid. He was probably remembering my father, so I was quick to defuse his fears, leaning into his line of vision.  
“Well, I’m not a General anymore I guess. But I’ll keep you safe nonetheless.”

His pupil wasn’t visible in his equally dark iris, but it was clear when he finally realized what he saw, giving a soft sob and reaching out with the hand that was bound to the IV line, so I carefully grabbed onto it and guided it back to the soft mattress.

“Don’t move, you’ll end up hurting yourself.” I mumbled close to him, keeping my hold on his hand even after it was securely laid down again.  
He didn’t answer to that, other than to silently accept my words, lying still once again, just looking at me and his surroundings.

His eye was wandering again, not really focussing on anything other than my face every few seconds. When Leia returned with a glass of water, she helped him sit up, delicately holding most of his weight by the one shoulder that was not wounded and I took the glass to his sprained lips, watching how he took tentative sips into his empty stomach.

His mother also helped him lie down again right after, he was not yet fit enough to really be sitting up. Shortly after a doctor showed up, asking Ben some questions, now that he was finally awake.

He obviously had some difficulties fallowing the conversation but answered whenever he could. It was going fine until the doctor started asking questions about his sexual activity. He was only doing his job, but I couldn’t help myself with the feelings of anger that were welling up inside of me. Kylo was looking very uncomfortable, bordering on panicked as he confirmed that he had been in fact very active in the last few months.

Next the man was asking questions about the bruises and other injuries fitting sexual violence and consent, but even before he was done Ben was retching, desperately trying to lift his body off the mattress with his weak arms while throwing up the glass of water he just got down.

I wasn’t sure if this was because of his sickness and the drugs or because the doctor was talking about rape right in front of the victim, but I had a strong feeling that the questions did not exactly help with the nausea, but it didn’t really matter as the doctor called for some nurses that would clean Ben up again.

The ex-slave in question was absolutely exhausted after throwing up, falling back into unconsciousness as soon as he was laid back on a clean bedding. The doctor typed in some new information on the holo pad attached to his patient’s bed and gave us an apologetic look afterwards.

“Don’t worry too much about this. He has been starved for a long time, his stomach will have some difficulties with keeping things down for a while and at the moment he’s also on very strong painkillers, a lot of patients face complications like nausea and exhaustion while taking those. From now on he will be on the way to a stable recovery.” He explained, sounding logical while doing so, still, I found it difficult to believe him after what we just witnessed.

Leia shared my opinion, meeting my eyes while patting the hand of her once again unconscious son before we left together. After this visit all of us could need some rest.


End file.
